Toaru Moho no Cho Noryokusha Volume 1
by Student1239
Summary: 2.3 million people. With that figure, everyone has a story to tell in Academy City. This is about a story of a level 0, who like many others, wants to get special powers. But when he does achieves his goal, what will the city hold in store for him later?
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Begining of a Certain Esper - Level_0**

The sun shines above Academy City.

Even so, the rays of light fail to illuminate a certain urban alley, for some light is needed in that darkness.

As by-passers move by, most of them in student uniform, their attention is lured to the alley.

"Who are you waiting for again? I'm pretty sure whoever they are, they won't show up. That said, why not hang around with me and my friends? Heh heh heh."

A group of 5 thugs are gathered around a schoolgirl. The helpless schoolgirl is against the drabbed wall, frightened. Her only action is staring at the ground, as if a way out will present itself on that concrete.

By-passers stop as they witness the situation. But one by one fled because they lack the strength to do anything. The only thing they did is leaving with a pained expression.

"This looks bad. Maybe we should call Judgment." whispered by a couple who stopped across the street.

The situation looked grim for the schoolgirl. For every by-passer who has gone by, her hopes of rescue dwindles. Her eyes tear up from hopelessness.

"Aww.. don't cry, I promise you we will treat you nice."

"Yeah! Real nice, if you get what I mean! Aha haha."

After saying that, the thug and proceed to grab the girl. As his hand reached closer to the distressed girl, a sharp call came out of nowhere.

"THIS IS JUDGMENT! DON'T RUN!"

This call is similar to that of a megaphone and it echoed through the alley and everyone froze in their movements.

The thugs were shocked as they stared at the end of the alley.

*Tap tap tap tap!*, footsteps were heard as it got closer and closer to the alley.

Now, the attention of the girl is also directed at the end of the alley.

*Screech*, the sound of rubber sliding on concrete.

That screech was made by a guy, a runner perhaps, as he made a quick turn into the alley and continued with his mad dash in.

This guy, the mad dasher, was in fact our protagonist who is he being chased by Judgment, but why? Why is our protagonist being pursued by the police force Judgment?

Worry not, let us take a look awhile back before this "situation".

Saturday, June 22nd.

It was an hour to noon time.

The streets weren't crowded with people, but it was not empty too. Half of them are in their school uniform even though it is a weekend. It is likely the people with uniforms have extra classes to take.

Among those were 2 friends heading to a certain meeting. One of them was our protagonist, Ian Khaw. His hair is short and black and his eyes are dark brown.

White T-shirt with a short sleeve, red checkered, button-down shirt over it, unbutton of course. Black jeans and dark sports shoes. These are his attire in that morning.

"So this meeting we're going now, it is located in the Seventh Smith?" questioned Ian.

"Yeah, didn't you know they had meeting rooms there?" spoke the other friend.

They stop at a pedestrian crossing. The reason is because the light was red for the pedestrian crossing.

"Hmm… all I know that it is a mall. And they have an arcade on the ground floor."

"You really should take a look around in the building, then you'll know your way around." He said while he nudges Ian with his elbow.

"I do, but I don't remember things unimportant to me… oh the meeting rooms in Seventh Mist! Yeah now I remember. They have big rooms too."

The light turned green and they start walking again.

"Really? They didn't say it in this flyer." Said the other friend while taking out and unfolding a partially crumpled piece of paper.

"Eh? You did not know? And here you made it sound like you knew the place." Says Ian with a confused look on his face.

Three security robots zooms pass the streets and past them.

"Haha no problem! Even if I, Kokawa Isao, didn't see it with my own eyes, information is enough for me! Hahahahaha!"

Isao was laughing out loud and that laughter attracted attention around them. Isao had on his school uniform and bag. Evidence of later classes he has to take. His hair is short, spiked up and blond with dark brown eyes.

"… Right. Anyway let me see that flyer." Ian had his hand out .

"Ya." Isao passed the flyer to Ian.

Ian took the crumpled piece of paper and began reading it.

"ESP Level Meeting, June 22nd at noon, free food and drinks, located at the-"

*Pang*, the sound of a trashcan getting kicked. It was from the other side of the street where Ian and Isao stand, in an alley.

"Ow! My feet!"

"Ah quit being a crybaby!"

Or in this case, the sound was from being bump accidentally to the trashcan.

In the alley, there were 5 thugs surrounded a grade schoolgirl.

"Hey girl, what's a cutie like you doing here?" said by one of the thug, acting cool.

"You must be lonely, well you should join us then. We will have so much fun together Hahaha."

The girl, with both hands carrying her bag close to her, was push against the wall by the presence of the thugs.

"This looks bad Ian." Isao got serious.

"Yeah, a bunch of jackasses are harassing a girl." After saying that, Ian was gripping that piece of paper, squeezing it. Then he exhaled, not in a relief kind of manner but in a angry yet hopeless kind of manner.

"But… we can't do anything about it, the only thing to do is to call Judgment" said Ian.

"What do you mean we can't do anything about it? And it will be too late when Judgment comes here, you know it! We'll have to do something about it!"

Isao had his hands gripped to fists.

"I know what you mean, but what can we do? I am a level 0 esper and I don't have much fighting experience, and you're a level 2 esper but your ability is not suited for fighting."

Just as Ian has stated it, he is a level 0 esper, no ability, and Isao's ability is not the offensive kind of ability.

Both of them were disgusted as they took another look at the situation at hand. Which is the thugs in the alley.

"Damn it! Why can't I have a useful ability?" His fist clenched harder.

"Hmm… at times like these, it is no use to blame yourself. I guess if we really want to do something, we have to form a plan. Some way for us to get those thugs away."

"A plan? Well you're the smart one, you should form a plan." Isao lighten up as he place his hopes in Ian.

"Sorry to disappoint but I have nothing useful at the moment, plus we spent too much time assessing the situation, we should've called Judgment and hope for the best."

"Hahahaha" Laughter came from that alley and it took both Ian and Isao's attention.

The thugs were still around the girl but they have not made any moves yet.

"…! I got it! I got the idea! This plan will need your help and my ability!"

And so, Isao told Ian the plan. Ian looked rather shocked by it but nevertheless he accepted it after letting out a sigh.

*Screech* now we continued where we left off with the 'Mad Dashing Ian'.

"I AM WARNING YOU, I'LL BE FORCE TO TAKE YOU DOWN!"

Ian ran pass the thugs and all they did is stare at that runner exiting at the other side.

Staring with teary eyes, the girl also did the same thing.

"M-maybe we should leave!"

"Maybe? Of course we have to leave! No way we can stand against a Judgment member, let's get out of here!"

The 5 thugs left in a hurry, using the same exit as the guy who ran in moments ago. They ran out, leaving the schoolgirl in that alley. She just stood against the wall, staring at the exit with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Hey, you ok?"

The girl looked at the entrance, to the call.

At the entrance, Isao stood there with a grin on his face.

He walked in the alley, towards the girl.

"Don't worry now kid, you're safe. What is your name little missy?"

She stared at him for a second then wiped her tears.

"M-my name is… A-Aoki Asuka… sir…"

"Sir? I am not that old yet! Just call me Isao, Kokawa Isao. Heh he!"

From the exit of the alley, Ian walked in. He was a little out of breath upon entree.

"Ha… some plan you had there Isao, had me running around the area. They all followed me." Ian walked closer to them.

"They? Who are they?"

"Those thugs. I am not sure if they were chasing after me or they were just stupidly following me."

"Really? Well at least the plan worked right? So everything is ok!"

Isao had his hands on his head with a big grin on his face. Ian stared in disgust at Isao. In his mind, he thought 'We just got lucky', and then he turned to Asuka. The girl jumped a little from the sudden turn.

"And you are?"

"… Aoki Asuka…"

"Aoki Asuka huh? Well I'm glad you're ok. My name is Ian."

"His name is Ian 'Khaw', weird name right? But don't worry, because this guy here is Chinese, with an English first name." told Isao as he is giving away Ian's personal information.

Asuka just nodded and lowers her head in response.

"…yo…ly…ame…" whispered Aoki.

"Huh? What did you say? I didn't quite get it." Isao got closer to listen carefully.

Asuka head is still lowered, but slowly she looked to Ian.

"Um… t-thank you for saving me…"

She made a 180 degrees turn and run out with her head down while carrying her bag close to her with both her arms crossed.

"Hey what about me? I did the planning and shouting!"

Both of them watched Asuka exited the alley.

"What was that about? We saved her and all she does is ran away, pretty strange huh Ian?"

Ian turned to Isao and raises his shoulder that is stating I don't know.

"You know, maybe she likes you." Said Isao as he went into tease mode.

"Highly doubt it."

"Not with that attitude you don't. Come on Ian, you need to take action when a chance presents to you!"

"Sorry but I don't want to be a pedophile, my love life is none of your business, and even if I need some consult, I won't be asking a guy who changes his girlfriends every week."

A grin came from Ian and he starts walking out of the alley. The sentence obviously affected Isao like a knife going through him.

"Hey, I'm working on it! I- er… I'm just looking for the right girl y'know."

"Yeah yeah, come on now, let's get moving. We have spent quite some time here playing hero, any more and the meeting would be over."

Isao starts to walk towards Ian and they exited the alley, on their way to Seventh Mist.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about it. I was too caught up in the action, but you can't deny that it felt good to help someone!"

Isao's fist is up in the air, maybe to strike a victory pose while walking.

"Too caught up in the action huh? I believe that was me. But you are right, always glad to help someone really in need. Though, I must say, this time we got lucky."

"Come on, have a little more faith in our team work!"

"Right… right… Come on let's go."

Even though he sounded unoptimistic in their event, Ian let out a satisfactory and relieving smile. A job well done, as he would put it.


	2. Chapter 1

**Part 1**

"So, how is your ability building coming up? Any progress?"

Isao asked Ian as they are walking in a more populated area, the shopping district.

There are shops for male and female, bookstore and mini-marts, game shops, cafes, and all the other things. A hot spot for the students of Academy City to hang around.

As Ian heard the sentence 'How is your ability…' he instantly felt real disappointed.

"Haa… talking about my ability, I've made no progress ever since I got here. I guess this brain of mine isn't really made for having abilities."

He points to his head with his index finger, showing that his brain is somewhat useless and he has the last 4 years to prove it. 

"Hey come on, it can't be that bad. At least you are real smart. See me, I always get 'C's in my subjects and if I am lucky, a 'B'."

They arrived at the Seventh Mist and they entered the building. Now they are heading to higher floors, passing shoppers and groups alike.

"Now you, you're something else. Every subject that is on the curriculum, even if it doesn't exist, you have 'A's for it."

Ian's face lighten up a little with a smile, he felt a bit better being praised for his academic achievements. Although, he would just disregard it and call it luck.

"Except for Power Devel-"

Ian immediately dropped his head, losing all hope and happiness as Isao said that.

"Eh?! B-But! That is not the point! Point is, you're doing very well and you should have a good future ahead of you!"

A depressing sigh was let out by Ian and he said "Yeah, you're right about that… but you're wrong about one thing, I don't get all 'A's you know."

Fifth floor, they have arrived at the level where the meeting is held but still have a little more distance to cover.

"Oh ya? Well then prove it "Level 0 Genius"!"

Isao felt confident as he said it. There was no way he has ever gotten a bad grade, is what he though.

"Heh, even now you're calling me by that name. Who came out with that name anyway, practically the whole school-"

An index finger launched directly in front of Ian's face. That immediately stopped Ian's question. Perhaps hiding the fact that he, Isao, was the one who spread the rumor.

"Ah-ta-tat! Don't change the subject, I want to hear what you have to say about me being wrong!"

High and mighty, like a child who won a game of tic-tac-toe against an adult, is what Isao felt right now. The feeling of proving Ian wrong seems like a rare occasion for him as he waits for the opportunity.

"Oh, right. Hmm… let's see… you don't know the score of my entrance exam."

"Eh? B-but that is just the en-" He tried to make a recovery but he was stopped

"And my grades when I was in grade school, they were really bad. Want to see them?"

Defeat, Isao remained silence.

They arrived at the door to the meeting room. The door is between two tables with food enough to make a few sandwiches and drinks, both cold and hot. Not far from the door was a board with the meeting information. 12:00 PM, the starting time on the board.

"Alright, we are here now."

"Yeah, the meeting. Looks like it has started" Isao's smile got even bigger

Isao looked around the area on the right, and Ian, the left.

"Looks like no one is around"

"Yup, nobody at sight" confirmed Isao 

Both of them stared at each other in silence. The beginning of a duel is the atmosphere felt around them. Eyes burning with passion and fists gripping the air out of the palm.

*Bang*, an imaginary gun shot sounded in their heads.

The two dashed to their tables and start preparing a sandwich.

Bread, lettuce, tomato, smoked ham, smoked beef, mayonnaise, and bread.

The speed between them is furious. It is obvious now that it is a race of speed preparation.

A plastic cup is place on the side of the sandwich, ice cubes in the bucket are stabbed by a scoop, and poured in the cup.

Iced tea is poured in it. 

The competitors seem to be moving at the same pace. After their drinks are poured, they take one quick look at their opponent.

"You're pretty good." Complimented Isao.

"You're not bad yourself."

The sandwiches and drinks are prepared, but it seems that it is not over yet.

Both stared in silence, waiting for the one on the other side to make a move. Then they continued, now grabbing the sandwich and stuffing their faced.

Remarkably, both had their sandwich half-stuffed into their mouth. They ready themselves with a drink in their hand.

Then a cup is lifted and heading straight to be drink out of. The cup quickly empties and a gulp proceeds after.

Who has finished their meal first? Who drank the cup empty before the other? Who will gain bragging rights from this childish race?

*Tap*, the plastic cup hit the table.

It's Isao who won this match! Ian is still trying to swallow the sandwich while drinking some iced tea.

"Ha… haha! Yes! I won again! This makes 2 times in a row!"

Ian, still trying to finish his food, is giving him the look of I'll get you next time.

Minutes pass now.

Ian and Isao are still in front of the meeting room.

"Crashing meetings are a good way to get free food huh?" said Isao after drinking some iced tea.

"You said it, I can use the money to play around in the arcade for awhile"

Ian finished his cup of drink.

"So what do you want to do now? I have 3 more hours till my class starts."

Ian looked around for things to do, and then the meeting board caught his attention.

'Esper Level Meeting with Dr. Steven Connor'

The name ringed into his ears. Ian has a feeling he heard of the name before, but as he would put it, he can't put his finger on it.

"Hey Isao, do you know who Steven Connor is?"

Ian resorted to asking Isao.

"Steven Connor? The famous physicists that is in Academy City right? Yeah, I have heard of him."

Hearing that, it reconfirmed who Ian thought he was and then he proceeds to pointing at the board in front of him.

"Hmm…? What's that? Esper… level… meeting… with… doctor St… Steven Connor?!"

Isao stared at Ian with a surprised and disbelieving look.

"Hey Ian, let me see that flyer, quick!"

Hearing that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of flyer. It was folded 4 times to be exact.

Ian unfolded it and passed the flyer.

A quick snatch came afterwards and the snatcher scans the paper.

"Eh…! It is true, this is a meeting by Doctor Connor himself!"

"You know, you don't have to look at the flyer to confirm that." Ian switched his gaze to the board.

"That board should be sufficient enough rather than a crumpled up piece of paper."

Isao, still mesmerized by that crumpled flyer, didn't even hear a word he said.

"Oi, don't ignore m-"

Without warning, Isao's face came within inches with Ian's face. Ian got pushed back by the sudden approach.

"Hey, want to go inside the meeting?!"

Although surprised, Ian quickly regains posture and took a step backward.

"First of all, don't come so close to me, face to face in fact. Second, I don't think we are invited. Third, we just crashed their meeting, I don't think it is good to just 'go inside' the meeting like that."

These points are critical but it seems to fly by Isao's head. That may very well be true, literally.

"Huh? I am sorry, I can't hear a word you are saying"

Isao is beaming straight at Ian, like a little child wanting to get permission from father to go to the candy store.

"Geh- you're doing it again, I hate it when you do this to me."

He let out a sigh, looked at his digital watch, scan left and right.

Unwillingly, Ian utter the words "Alright, let's go."

"Hm? Did you say let's go?"

"Yes, I said lets go and you can stop using it now." said Ian as he points to Isao.

"Yes! I knew you would come"

That happy "kid" turned towards the door and starts to approach it.

"God, I wish you'd be more mature. You're 18 years old now, be like one please."

Again, those words did not reach Isao.

Inside the meeting room, it was dark and the only light that is clear is at the end of the room, where the stage it. A projector is projecting data, a pie chart to be exact, beside the illuminated stage. Chairs are in lines of 4 columns around the stage and about three fourths of them are filled with people with white lab coats.

On the stage, there stood a man who is also in a white lab coat, giving his speech. He is the size of your average working man, wore glasses shaped in rectangles, short, blonde, and roughly spiky hair, blue eyes, have a goatee, and a very calming demeanor. He is the famed Dr. Steven Connor.

"…and so with the data we have gathered, the unreachable level 6 comes one step closer within' the hands of science…"

At the entrance of the meeting room, the 'crashers' slid pass attention and took a seat in the back.

Isao's eyes were glued to Dr. Connor like he has gold ingots on him.

Unable to hold his curiosity, Isao whispered to Ian for some answers.

"…Hey, is that Dr. Connor…?"

"…Most likely since this is his meeting…"

There is no one sitting close to them so whispering did not disturb the meeting. In addition to that the room was dark.

"…wooow… so that is the famous Steven Connor… do you think he'll write me an autograph…?"

Ian stared at Isao as Isao is glued to the man in front.

"…What is with you and famous people…? …They are just normal human beings who happen to be well known…"

"…well I made a promise to myself to get the meet famous people…" Isao said it with such fire his fist is held up.

"…and when was that…?"

"…5 minutes ago…"

The expression on Ian instantly switched to annoyed mode as the whispered answer hit him. He did not respond after.

For the remainder of the meeting, they listened to Dr. Connor's speech.

"And so this concludes my speech. Thank you for listening as always, you were gracious audiences. The future for Academy City is great as the answer to the unknown level 6 become clearer."

As the speech ended, the room starts to light up softly. Around the room, everyone applauded for Dr. Connor and his speech. Not long after, people are up and around. Some of them are in their small groups, talking to one another, some are packing their papers and going out the room, and some are talking to Dr. Connor himself.

Near the entrance, our crashers are still seated. Isao looked confused as if he had misplaced something.

"er… so the data he gathered… is used to back up the… uh… research for level 6 and… something about level 0? Hey Ian, do you get any of this?"

Isao turned to Ian but he is engaged in deep thought while talking to himself.

"I see, so the reason for the absence of abilities in level 0s could be due to the fact that a right catalyst is yet to be found. Every individual has their own catalyst but most of the catalysts are the same, if not, very close to it. That is why the Curriculum worked for some espers and not other. But what about…"

His original intention was to find clarity in the speech, but upon hearing Ian's thoughts, Isao got even more confused. In fact, he even showed signs of having headaches.

"Hmm… did you say something Isao?"

"…nothing, I don't think asking you would help me in anyway…"

"Alright!" said Ian as he stood up. He seems like he had fun listening to the speech. "I must say that this is one of the things you've dragged me into that I enjoyed."

"Ugh… I am glad you did…"

*VRRRR-VRRRR*, the familiar sound of a cell phone vibration.

It took their attention to Isao's right lap, where his right pants pocket is located.

Isao took out his cell phone and examined it.

"Hmm… it is a message from the teach. Extra-lesson for today is canceled, just study logarithm. Hey this is good news, now I have more free time!"

"Oi, I believe you have to read some lessons. More importantly, why are you still studying logarithms?"

"Ah no worries, those math problems just won't let me understand them even if the answers are clear to me as day!"

"Hey…" the only respond Ian could come up with.

As they are done conversing, Dr. Connor approaches them.

"Good afternoon gentlemen, I see we have some new faces here."

Both of them turned to the oncoming doctor. One in awe, the other, surprised. It should be obvious who is in awe and who is surprised.

Isao immediately stood up as a proper gesture of respect for the doctor.

"Oh man! Dr. Connor himself came to see us! It is an honor!" said Isao as he enthusiastically bows from his waist up and hands straight on his sides. "My name is Kokawa Isao and this is Ian!" again with much vigor.

"Um… Hi sir." followed by Ian as he bowed his head.

Dr. Connor pushed his glasses up with his left hand and responded.

"Hmm… being addressed as 'Sir' and 'Dr. Connor' makes it seems as though I am an elder person. Please, address me as Steven, as my colleagues do. I 'am' 22 years old."

As Steven stated that, he turned to Ian for Ian's word seemed a little too formal.

"Yes si- um- Ste- I mean, ok Steven" stuttered Ian because he is trying to change his words of formalness to words of casualness.

"Good, now then what brings two students to my meeting? Are you interested in the studies and development of abilities?"

"Well actually, we came here for the fo- fhmm!"

Ian's hand covered Isao's mouth before their cover is blown.

"WHAT he would like to say is yes, we are interested in it and that's why we came here."

His hand lowered from the cover breaking mouth. Isao stared in irritation while Ian continued.

"And I have a question, is it really true that everyone has their own unique catalyst?"

"Ah, you're talking about my report. Well it is just a theory based on the data we have gathered."

"But you said you're the one who figured it out right? You must have some kind of perception" praised the amazed Ian.

"Well that is true, but I would not say perception. More of 'intuition' to be exact."

A thought came to Isao as he hears 'Intuition'.

"Oh ya, I remembered you have an ability named after it, something intuitive mani-er.. something."

"Self Intuitive Manipulation or 'SIM', abbreviated." answered and corrected by the doctor.

"Right! And it lets you er… something something something…"

Ian is thinking of the ability SIM and what it was. Quickly, he pieced the words and responded.

"Hmm… Self Intuitive Manipulation… does that mean you can control your instincts?"

Looking dully surprise, Steven said, "Well you sure do know your terms, I am impressed."

Possibly it is because of Isao that Ian seems much brighter than your average student. Truth is, Intuitive is a word overused in an anime he watches so Ian already knew what the definition of it is, or maybe it is just an easy word.

"Ah haha…" laughed Ian as he tries to hide his feeling of joy of being praised. This could be because he still sees Steven as Dr. Connor, the famous scientist born from Academy City and treats him with high respects.

"Well he is our school's smartest level zero, it is no surprise he knows so much."

"Is that true? You are a level zero?" again he seems surprised, at a low level, in learning that fact from Isao.

"Ah yes, that is why I am trying my best to get an ability and if what you say is true, then all I just have to do is look for my own catalyst!"

Ian's hopes of getting an ability got replenished by the thought of that.

"Good, good, it is always good to have students working hard to find their ability. What about you Isao? Do you have an ability?"

"You bet'cha , I am a level 2 too!" Isao's pride is showing as he hit his chest with his fist.

"Oh, that's great. Care to share it with me?"

"Sure, my ability is called Hertz Administration, I can control-"

"Sounds." the doctor finished Isao sentence.

It should be a given that he knew of what the ability can do given that he just finished his research on ability development.

"Yup, you're right!" said Isao as he gave his usual grin.

Ian thought of a new question to ask the doctor.

"So, do you determine the level of your ability? Actually, I am more interested in how your ability works."

As he finished his sentence, he took a quick glimpse of the time. Then he thought they might be holding the doctor from his work.

"Ah sorry for the questions, if you're busy then you should go."

Steven looked at his wristwatch for a moment, and then he smiled.

"It is alright, I have enough time. Besides, I have not have this much fun in ages. Now to answer your question, my ability is manipulating my own instinct. That means I can heighten or drop my sense of knowledge, perception, and learning ability. Why lower knowledge? It is because it helps me relax by slowing down my brain calculations."

"Wow, that means you can be the smartest man on the planet and you can understand everything at once right?" Asks Isao.

"It is more complex than that because like instinct, it happens so fast or it happens without one knowing, and if the same process were to be replicated again, forcibly, it would be difficult unless practiced."

Isao was looking very confused and this time, Ian joined as well.

"Er… you lost me there. Hey Ian, do you understand it?"

Isao turns to Ian.

"I think I get what he means… maybe not."

The area was starting to get empty and the clean up crew was almost done stacking the row of chairs. Lights in different sections of the room started to turn off.

"Ah ha ha ha, how about we change the subject? And why not we move to a different location, they will be asking us to leave soon. Perhaps a cup of coffee?"

Both Ian and Isao looked at each other then back to Steven and nodded.

A few moments later, the three of them are seated in a café. A waitress just finished taking orders and walked away from the table. The café is fairly occupied but the noise level is at a moderate range. The décor consisted of refined wooden walls and supports, and potted plants are at each corner. Beside the cashier is a counter where pastries are being sold and the one responsible for it is the cashier herself.

"…and that is how my ability works! Pretty neat huh?"

Isao finished explaining his ability, happily of course.

"Though, it can sometime be a pain, like stubbornness right Isao?"

Ian added to Isao's finishing statement.

"H-hey, that's not true, just becau-"

Isao tried to "explain" but Ian immediately stopped him by saying, "Really now? The fact that you're denying it is proof of your stubbornness."

The statement Ian made is followed by a smirk.

"Geh!? Aa…" Isao was silenced, head down.

The doctor laughed at the conversation. The waitress arrived with the ordered drinks and distributed the drinks.

"Impressive, that was fast" commented Ian.

The waitress just smiles and leaves to attend to other customers.

"So doctor, you were saying something about a new research you're doing but Isao interrupted you with his ability explanation."

Asked Ian then proceeded by picking up and drinking his refreshment. Isao decided to join the conversation back by lifting his head up.

"Ah yes, I was given a new research task by my colleague. I need to complete it with haste before I can start on my own desired research."

"Why don't you start with your research first?" questioned Isao.

"Hmm… let us just say I have a debt for a certain individual's grandfather."

Dr. Connor adjusts his glasses and reaches for the cup of coffee in front of him. He sips it.

"But I do not wish to do a careless job on it too, so I've been looking for ways to facilitate the research but effectively creating a solid report. But, I believe I have found my answer."

The doctor set his sights on Isao and smiled. This made Isao confused with a half smile on his face.

Ian takes another drink and sets the carbonated refreshment down.

"And this answer you've found is…?"

The doctor glanced at Ian, smiling still, then back to Isao.

"Kokawa-san, would you like to be part of my research?"

Isao stared at the doctor for awhile, dumbfounded. Then the kid in him exploded.

"Really?! Oh man, of course! I am ready to start now! Oh man… I get to see how a pro researcher works…!"

His voice is loud and so are his expressions. Both fists held up side-by-side, around chin level.

"Oi… we don't even know what the research is about and you're already willing to join?"

"Haha, what enthusiasm your friend has. For your information, the research is mainly based on sounds and with Kokawa-san's help, we will be able to collect crucial data with minimal amount of time. I promise you it won't be a long one, I just have to get the basis of the research."

"Sounds good, it is my kind of job!" exclaimed Isao while he pound on his chest once.

It is as the doctor said, with Isao's help he can finish his research quickly with a certain special ability Isao possesses.

"Ah I see, but you still have not told us what the real research is."

"Hmm… that I can't do, it is a secret that I can't tell."

The doctor's reason for privacy may be because usually researches keep their data a secret from others for if leaked, information could be used by other researchers. That was what Ian thought.

"But you are welcome to come and watch. I am starting a few days from now so if you are interested to join, here is my card."

Dr. Connor pulls two cards out from his lab coat pocket and hand it to Ian and Isao.

"Ah, thank you."

"Thanks doc! I'll definitely help you!"

Before Ian could keep the card, his attention is set on Isao's last statement.

"You know Isao, a few days from now, school and class will be piling up on homework, do you have the time to do it?"

Ian made Isao remember their current responsibilities, students, and his smile faded. He goes into thinking mode. After 10 seconds of pondering, he finally gave up.

"Ugh… sorry doc, I don't think I can make it. Not unless if Ian decides to let me copy his homework."

Isao turns to Ian, hopefully seeing Ian agreeing to let him copy. But the moment he sees Ian, a cross was already prepared by Ian's arms saying "No!"

"Aw come on man! Just once!"

The doctor laughed again at their communication.

"Don't worry Kokawa-san, I can wait for awhile. Meantime, I'll do my pre-preparations for my desired research."

"Sweet, well that settles it then." Said Isao like a job well done.

"Oh one more thing, if you're not planning to participate please do call to inform, I'd hate to wait for nothing." Said the doctor as he picks up his coffee cup then finishing it.

"Now then, it is time for me to bid farewell, don't worry about the bill because this is my treat."

The doctor stands out of his chair. Ian and Isao stood up too.

"Ah thank Steven, and it was nice talking to you."

"Yeah, thanks a bunch doc."

And both of them paid their respects to the doctor.

The doctor picks the receipt and his briefcase from the table and went to the cashier. After payments he exited the café.

Just a few steps away from the café, he pulled his phone out from his carry-on. He stopped walking there. He dialed the phone and waits for the recipient.

*Dood dood- dood dood- dood do- click*

"Hello? Yes it's me, Steven. I'll have your report done no longer by the end of next week. What? What do you mean yo- hm? … … … understood."

*beep-* the call ended and the doctor disconnects the call.

"Gr… that bitch."

The doctor is not happy after that, he grips the life out of his phone if it had one. He stares back at the café a few meters away from him, formulating a plan.

He makes another call and starts walking again.

"… … … Hello? Yes, it is Connor. Prepare the materials, we need to get it done now. One more thing, have my 'other' business card prepared."

Back at the café, right after the doctor left, Isao and Ian sat back down again to finish their drinks.

"Well that nice talking to him, I'd never thought he would talk so much."

"Same here man." replied Isao, "I thought he would be boring since he is a researcher and all."

Isao finishes his drink and noticed his watch.

"MMM! Kak Kyak!" he chocked on his drink when he notices the time.

"Oh man, it's 4 pm already! Saki will be mad at me!"

'You have a date today even though you were going to have classes?' thought Ian as he drinks his soda.

"I got to go now, I'll see ya later man!"

Isao took off and Ian saying good bye with a hand up, staring at Isao as he ran out.

*Glup, glup* the sound of rapid drinking.

"Ah…" he exhaled.

"hmm… to the arcade then I guess."

He stood up and exited the café. "Have a nice day" he is bided farewell by the cashier. 'A very family friendly café indeed' thought Ian. Before he leaves, Ian had already planned his next visit to this café.

A few moments later, in an arcade close by, a few coins are on a palm. Ian is holding it and staring at it.

"Hmm… one, two, three, five… this will last me at least 2 hours."

And he proceeds to the gun slinging machine.

**Part 2**

*Beep beeeeeeep-* the sound of a car honking.

"…Mm…?"

Sunday Morning.

In a dorm that is rectangular, the bedroom, living room, dining room, and kitchen are one. The only source of light is the glass sliding door at the furthest part of the room leading to the balcony.

A bed is placed beside the balcony entrance and in front of the sliding door is a small table. The bed is equipped with a sliding table that moves forwards or backwards. On it rests a monitor hooked to the computer.

Some cabinets are placed along the opposite side of the bed. One thirds of the room where the front door leads to is the kitchen and in the kitchen is the entrance to the bathroom.

This is his dorm, Ian's, and the description is how it is set up. His 'man cave' as thought by his dad and that is what he calls it now.

On the bed lies a curled up, blanket covered Ian as he slowly greets the day.

Minutes dozed by.

The 'log' is still on the bed, eyes half closed, staring at the wood luster finished cabinet.

His gaze leads him to the boundaries of consciousness and knocked out.

(Ah… already morning…? What time is it…?)

Slowly, he shifts his head towards his part computer desk, part sliding table to read the time on his digital clock. "10:28 am"

His usual waking time in the mornings except school days, in fact this is quite early. On weekends he spends his nights going online and playing his MMO or FPS games but he tries to limit himself in order to sleep at a reasonable time.

Now, staring at the digital clock, his gaze returned to the cabinets again.

*Lin Lin Lin Lin-Lin Lin Lin Lin*

Hearing the ringing of his phone, he starts analyzing his current status. 'Who is calling?', 'I am tired now', 'should I answer it?', 'maybe I'll just let it go to voice mail'. These thoughts are going through his mind as he ponders. It also shows on his face where his tired eyes try to be serious.

"Mmgh…"

Regardless of his brainstorm, he got up and reached for his phone on the desk.

*Beep*

"…"

"Hello? Ian, can you hear me? It's me Isa-"

*Beep*

Halfway through his sentence, Ian recognizes it was Isao's voice and immediately hung up.

Even though he decides not to talk to Isao, he still held on to his phone, staring at it and waiting for something to happen.

*Lin Lin Lin Lin-Lin Lin Lin Lin- Beep*

Another call came but this time instead of answering it, his thumb pushes the end call button.

Phone, still held by hand, eyes, staring at the front cover of the cell phone, Ian is still waiting for another call to connect.

*Lin Lin Lin Lin-Lin Li- Beep*

"Hello…?"

"Hey Ian, cut that out, I have to call you so many times before you actually answer!"

Ian grinned out of enjoyment.

"…well I find that very amusing."

"Ah you always do that when I call you. Anyway, I am going out to eat, want to join me?"

Ian turned to his clock, his usual habit to seek for timed based answers or in this case his plans for the day.

"Hmm… what happen to Saki? I thought you guys were going out for a day?"

"Ah… we're no longer together. Yesterday was bad because I was late. Ha… and I just met her yesterday too."

Upon hearing it, Ian is containing his laughter because his guess was right along with a 'funny' remark that he wanted to say but left it at that. This need for 'funny' remarks is thanks to a certain friend he met when he was living in the States.

"…gk…hmhmm… so the relationship did last a day… ahaha-"

"Ah enough, I know what you are going to say, just leave it! Anyway, do you want to join me or no?" Spoke the phone.

"Right, yeah I can do that. Let's meet up at the usual place at noon. Give me some time to clean up."

"Alright then, I'll see ya soon-"

*Beep* The call ended.

Ian set his phone on the desk and got out of bed.

*Ding ding- ding- dingding* chimes from a wind chime and its background is the famed Academy City, where a population of 2.3 million lives and 80% of that population are students. Tall buildings and wind turbines engulf the scenery and tiny birds can be seen flying.

The sun is bright and high in the sky and the streets are flowing as busy as usual with people, vehicles, and inanimate objects. By the way, inanimate objects would be the cleaning and security robots.

Peer into a family restaurant among the buildings and the chances of seeing our target is less than 2% through an unfiltered list.

Skipping the whole process, the family restaurant of choice is chosen where Ian and Isao are in. Isao's back can be seen though it's large windows as he is sitting and chatting.

"…and then the whole thing went down, just like that!" Isao was telling a story at the table with Ian as his audience.

"It what?! Hahahaha! Wow, that's something!"

Eaten dishes are on the table, they were done eating 5 minutes ago and are now loitering, chatting there.

After laughing, Ian finishes his milk, lean towards right and look outside of the restaurant.

The day is beautiful, a little cloudy but it is not going to rain. This information is known thanks to the Tree Diagram, the world's best super computer, for its calculation predicts the weather outcome of the day, right to the second.

"The day is good, I think it would be a waste to stay indoors. Want to head to the park?"

"Hmm… it seems that I don't have anything to do today. Well maybe some homework but I can do it later." said Isao then proceeding to finish his drink.

Ian stared at Isao with a partial smile, showing disbelief in Isao's word to do his homework. In his mind, he thought tomorrow he is going to get yelled at again.

*Dingding-Ding* the café doorbell rang.

Both exited the café and proceeds to their destination, the park.

"So do you think you are going to help out with Dr. C- Steven's research?"

"Oh, I have not thought of that yet, I totally forgot. But I will help him out, if I can find some time that is."

They walk past an alley in between the shops of the city. There are quite a number of alleys that cuts through the row of buildings or shops, each providing a back door to the establishments.

Ian stopped at his tracks and Isao slowed down to a stop after seeing Ian stop.

"Hey, why don't we take the short-cut? It will save us a certain walking distance."

"Yeah sure." answered Isao and they proceeded into the alley.

The alley gave Ian a deja vu though he does not react much to it. He only looks around the path.

"What do you see?" noticed Isao.

"Hmm… nah, nothing, it just reminds me of yesterday."

"You mean when we saved that girl?" Isao memory jogged his excitement.

"Yeah, it just looks like this alley, that's all"

Isao's eagerness to speak of yesterday's past event is showing greatly and he wanted to talk about it. He is even giggling a little.

"Hehehe, yesterday was great right? The way we both save the girl, it was so cool!"

"Yeah yeah, but it was me who did most of the work leading them away. All you had to do was shouting and amplifying."

Up ahead, in the corner of the alley in front of them but hidden from their sights, a guy hears their chattering as they got closer.

"You know what? We should do more heroic stuff like that. Be famous. Then let's join Judgment! Hahahaha!"

"If you want to join Judgment then go apply for it. You've been talking about it so much lately- huh?"

A figure of a man stopped Ian as he was walking. It came out from the "hidden corner" as they got very close.

He looked up and it is a bald man with his arms crossed, smirking.

"So! It was you bastards who tricked us and made fun of us!"

In a few seconds, Ian remembered this guy. It got him alerted because this guy was the same guy from the group of thugs.

"Ohh man, you are going to pay us big time!" the other guy from the thugs joins in as he walks out from the corner.

Two considerably big guys are in front of Ian and Isao, blocking their path.

Isao still did not get the fact that they were the thugs he and Ian tricked.

"Hey Ian, do you know these guys?"

"What? You just finished talking about them and you forgot about them?"

"Hmm… oh!" After a quick pondering, he remembers

"You mean those idiots we tricked and- urk…!" realizing what he said, he went to a quick state of silence and fear.

At the moment, Ian felt like telling Isao to turn around and dash out as fast as they can.

*Pak ka, Pak ka* sounds of crackling fist.

But before Ian could do so, he is interrupted by somebody cracking their fists. It is not from the thugs in front of them, one had his arms crossed and the other had his in his pockets.

The sound is coming from behind them and they turned their heads to see what is there.

3 more thugs entered the scene and they are part of this "group of thugs" Isao was talking about.

All of them had an evil grin on their face like they just successfully robbed a bank.

Ian's plan of escaping is now reduced to 2 grains of rice. A feeling of "game over" looms over his mind but he does not show any fear, still keeping his serious poker face and still trying to form a new plan. A drop of sweat can be seen on the side of his forehead.

Isao is becoming less spirited as he usually is. Although, he still tries to keep his smile.

"Hey you cost us a pretty girl you know, you have to pay us back."

"Yeah, 10000 each sound about right, and some satisfaction for our fists heh heh heh…"

Not only they are going to be robbed, but they are going to be punching bags for these goons, thought Ian.

(There has to be a way out for this.)

Desperately, Ian is still trying to build a plan. It would be simple and easy to escape the group by himself but that would mean leaving Isao behind, and he can't really tell Isao what to do in such a short amount of time. Fighting is the only option left that was and is the conclusion of his every plan.

"Hey Ian, w-what should we do?!"

"Looks like we're going in for a fight"

"A fight?! But I am not strong enough to fight these guys! You do it!"

"Wha- why should I do it?!"

"B-because I have arm wrestle with you before and you beat me, you're strong!"

"Ha… even if that is true, I don't think I am strong enough for these guys." Sighed Ian as he sees there is a very little chance of them getting out of this. Both of them are in the same situation the girl was in yesterday, hopelessness.

"Ah ha ha! Are you couples done with your gay talk? You better be ready for this."

All of the thugs got into their stances.

Ian got ready too, eyes showing a little fear but as well as a fire for self-defense.

Isao just looked around, panicked.

"Wo-wo-wo-woh! W-wait!"

"No time for this Isao, I want you to make a noise as loud as you can!"

Ian knew how loud Isao's ability can get but it is not nearly enough to stun anyone. Maybe a sudden shock could give him the advantage to grab a weapon and knock the 2 thugs in front down.

"B-but I didn't have enough time to concentra-"

"Get ready for some ass kicking!" shouted one of the thugs as he charges at them.

"Shit!" exclaimed Ian as he took a step back from the charging thug.

"HOLD IT!"

That shout is from in front of Ian and Isao and it echoed the alley.

It sounds like a shout from a certain attorney game that he played awhile ago.

In front of Ian and Isao, this is behind the 2 thugs, stood a young man about Ian and Isao's age. He is wearing school uniform, white button down shirt and a dark blue pant. Brown hair short on his back and drops in two in front, leaving the middle part of his forehead exposed, and brown eyes. But there is one key detail that separates him from others. His right sleeve had a band attached to it with symbol of a shield.

"I am a member of Judgment, you hooligans are placed under arrest! Stand down for any actions taken will result in consequences!"

His words match his guts for he is showing no signs of fragility and exerting a show of force, not flinching and well grounded.

The thugs' mood went south as they heard 'Judgment' and they have a reason to be.

Why would a group of thugs be fearful of a single person who is smaller in size? Because like law enforcers, members of Judgment keep the students of Academy city safe from threats not dealt with by the security robots. So they hold the authority and their way of using force is by ESP abilities, or supernatural abilities, capable of dropping a group.

"S-shit Kazu, it's Judgment! We better run!"

"ah... ah… n-no! We will stay and fight! I am tired of running away!"

"Y-yeah, he is just one guy, we can take him on!"

While the thugs were talking, Ian is glad help had arrived. But he is not in the safe yet, if these guys were to use them as hostages then it will be a big problem, thought Ian.

Again Ian formed a plan to just make a mad dash towards the Judgment member with Isao.

"…Hey Isao… lets-"

Before he could finish, his vision went completely black. It startled him as he looks around. But pitch black is all he could see.

"Ahh! Ian, I can't see!" shouted Isao.

"Ahhh! My eyes!"

The thugs scream, each and every one of them. As though to add more fear to the already blind Ian.

"W… what's going on?!"

He felt his left arm being grabbed which immediately made him pull back.

"Don't worry, follow me. I will lead you to safety."

Those words are from the Judgment member and Ian recognizes it.

"Wah! W-where are you taking me?! Help, Ian!"

"Isao, calm down."

He placed his faith on the Judgment member and followed the pull of his left arm, trying not to trip on anything on the ground.

"Alright, I'll slowly drop the shadows so you are able to adjust to the light easy."

And just like he said, Ian's vision slowly comes back. Roughly about 5 seconds, then he can see clearly.

His sights are on the Judgment member then he turned to Isao, wondering what happen.

Isao was shocked too and both Ian and Isao stared at each other dumbfounded.

Quickly snapping out from it, both Ian and Isao assess the situation by looking around. They are now a good ways from the thugs, who have their hands to their eyes like they got soap in them.

The Judgment member walked pass Ian and Isao, heading towards to the thugs.

"You guys stay here and let me handle this."

"Right." answered Ian

"Uh… ok." and Isao

By now, all of the thugs start to open their eyes but most are squinted.

"Y-you bastard! What was that light?!"

"Oh I am going to kill you! You almost blinded us!"

Still standing strong, the Judgment member said, "Sorry, I had to get the civilians out of danger first. Now you guys are to follow me back to the branch where the Antiskill could get you. Though, blinding you guys would be easier."

"Grr… Dammit, we're gonna go to jail man."

The thugs are now desperate, though they have their eyes wide open and can see well.

"N-No! We still have a chance, lets all take him down at once!"

"Yeah! Charge!"

The 5 began to run towards the Judgment member. The first 2 are the closest while the other 3 is about 4 meters away from the first group. The first 2 had their arms ready for a grab.

"Yaaah!"

When they get close enough to the Judgment member, who is still standing, they closed their arms to grab him. But he slipped pass them by ducking, extending his right leg out while crouching with his left. Then with the right leg, he does a sweep kick, knocking one thug down.

"Duah!" *Thump*

Just after the sweep kick, he launches himself with his left leg off the ground towards the 3 thugs at the back, leaving the one standing in front of him dumbfounded.

While in the air, he grabs the thug in the middle by his face and pushes him towards the ground.

*Dah* the sound of impact by the back of the thug to the concrete ground and he is out for the count.

He turns around and what is left of the 3 thugs, which is now 2, charge towards him. Both gave their charging strike but he easily dodges each punch by moving his upper body. The thugs who missed are now behind him. He sidesteps to position himself behind the thug who passed his right and gave a right hard jab, hitting the back of the neck.

*Thoum*

"Urgh-!" is his last word and he fell to the ground.

The first 2 thugs who ran in front have recovered and are now starting their charge toward the Judgment member.

The last thug in the back, who gave a charging strike and missed, turns around to give another right jab. The Judgment member was ready for this and he redirected the jab with both his hands and used the force against the thug to push him against the alley wall.

*Thump*

But he is not done yet. While holding the thug's right arm back, he grabbed the hair of that thug and slammed the thug's head on to the wall once. It knocked him out and he fell to the ground.

When his attention turned towards the last 2, one of them ambushes him by giving the Judgment member a bear hug from behind, gripping and not letting the Judgment member go; constricting his movements. The other thug walks up to them, with a grin on his face.

"Heh heh heh, we got you now…!"

Have the tides changed? Has the Judgment member already lost? Afraid not, for he smirks and said, "Are you sure?"

"Huh? What are you-"

The Judgment member lifts his right hand up and in his palm is a dark ball with a few uneven spikes resonating from it.

"What is this?"

Both thugs stared at the dark orb in confusion.

"Careful not look into it to closely" warned the Judgment member.

Ian and Isao watched as they are wondering what is going on. The dark orb is visible which made them ponder more.

Then the dark orb turned brighter, and brighter, and brighter by the 100 milliseconds until it was as bright as a stun grenade.

*PIIIII!*

"AHHH!"

Noticing the rapidly glowing flash, Ian and Isao took cover over their eyes.

"W-what is that light?" ask Isao.

A few seconds later, the light dies. Ian and Isao look back at the scene.

"AHHH! MY EYES!"

The thug who grabbed the Judgment member is now grabbing his eyes, same goes for the other.

The Judgment member, whose arms are now free, finishes the job by giving an upper cut to the one behind. Then he moves forward and puts his leg behind the last standing thug, grabs him by his shirt and pushes his back towards the ground.

*THUM!* "Ug-ah…"

Now the ones who are standing are the Judgment member, Ian and Isao, the rest are knocked out.

Staring in amazement, both spectators are speechless.

Ian looked at one thug after the next, then stares back at the Judgment member.

"Ha..ha ha ha! Whoa man, that was awesome!"

Isao cheered and went running to the Judgment member. Ian followed in a bit, partially walking and jogging with a look smile of amazement.

"Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're better than okay thanks to you!"

"Yes, thank you for saving us in the nick of time." Ian gave his thanks.

"Well I'd better report this to Antiskill, but first would you mind coming back with me to the branch?"

While this guy did save Ian, he couldn't stop but to feel uneasy to go to the branch which is a part of Judgment's base. This uneasiness could be because of the 'meeting crashes' he has been in with Isao and others.

"Well.."

"Yeah! We'll go!"

Before he could start, Isao already gave the Judgment member the thumbs up.

Ian stared at Isao annoyed.

"By the way, my name is Kokawa Isao and this here is Ian Khaw."

"Geh-" said Ian, double annoyed. Give out personal info will you, thought Ian.

"So why do you need us to come with you? Did we do something wrong?"

"No, it is just orders. But don't worry, it is not anything bad."

The Judgment member got out a phone from his pocket and called Antiskill.

Isao turned to Ian and said, "Whoa man, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen! That's why I want to be in Judgment."

"Yes, I know. You've told me many times already."

The Judgment member finished reporting and kept his phone back in his pocket.

"Alright all we have to do is wait for Antiskill to be here and we will head to the branch."

"Ok er…" Ian is trying to remember if he had given his name. For all the academic achievements, he is quite bad at names.

"Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you my name. It is Nakayama Yuichi, nice to meet you."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Fire Starters - Pyrokinesis**

**Part 1**

Sitting on a sofa in a room the size of any average family's living room, Ian and Isao are at the Judgment's 139th branch.

That is where the operation takes place, the planning, surveillance, reports, and gathering of Judgment members.

While it might seem small, there are other rooms for the members to rest in, eat their lunches, or grab a cup of coffee.

And yes, the place has 2 of its own bathrooms to tend to their needs.

"Really? You are THE 'Nakayama'? Wow man, this is awesome!"

Mouthing of his excitement, it is but only yours truly.

Ian sat as far away as he could from the loud speaker, for the fear of being deaf might actually be possible.

"This weekend is getting better and better! First it was the doctor, now it is the rumored 'Hero of Light', this is awesome! Hahahaha! Oh man, I gotta text this."

Placing 4 cups of coffee on a tray, Yuichi exited the kitchen with the tray and went to the area where the sofa is.

He sets 2 cups of coffee down on the coffee table, in front of the sofa and looks at Ian.

"Is your friend always this… loud?"

Even while sending a message through his phone, Isao is as loud and happy as he can be.

Both Ian and Yuichi stared at Isao for 2 seconds then back at each other.

"Yeah, he always gets this loud when he is happy."

"Hm, then Kokawa-san and the 'Boss' would get along very easy."

Ian picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip, and then he thanks him for the beverage in a 'by the way' fashion. This is because he forgot to thank him in the first place.

Yuichi sets the tray down and enjoyed some coffee too.

Ian stared at the tray which had one more cup of coffee.

Who is it for?

Ian questioned in his mind because currently, there are only 3 people in the room that he is aware of.

"The Boss should be back any moment now."

This 'Boss' character is someone all three of them are waiting for and it answered Ian's question as for who the fourth cup of coffee goes to.

Then he takes a sip of the coffee once more and turned to Isao, who is still texting. Yuichi did the same thing Ian did too.

*DAH* the loud sound of a door coming in contact with the wall.

Everyone's attention went to the entrance to the room.

"I'm back~!"

At the door stood a woman, early in her twenties, with one hand on the door she pushed and the other on her waist.

She has a dark shade of brown for both her hair and eyes. Her hair in front of her is swept to the left, her sides untouched, and her hair in the back is made into a ponytail with a black hair band, the "higher up" kind. Her pony tail hangs down to her back, right at the shoulder blades.

Her eyes can look relaxing at times, but it is mostly fueled with 10 times the vigor of most and one can almost see an ulterior motive behind her eyes.

She is wearing blue sports attire with her Judgment armband is visible on her right arm as she wears it proudly, and a white t-shirt underneath. Finally, finish it off with a pair of white sneakers and you get the outer appearance of…

"Tanaka Nanako, nice to see you boys! Oh and thanks for bringing them here Ichi-boy!"

She sprint-walks into the room, everyone's eyes is still on her, and she stood in front of the coffee table, hands on her waist and elbows pointing out her sides.

"You're welcome Boss."

Yuichi sets down his cup of coffee.

Ian is unresponsive to the sudden situation while Isao is staring at Nanako's cannons.

In addition to the description of Tanaka Nanako, she is what the people in the states, where Ian came from, would call "Well-rounded."

"Khaw-san and Kokawa-san, this is Miss Tanaka Nanako, our branch captain who we call the Boss. Boss, here are Ian Khaw and Kokawa Isao."

Ian stood up to greet the lady properly "Hi ma'am." While Isao is still sitting down, uttering, "bo..boo…b..bo."

Then Ian nudged the 'b..bo..boo…' guy and then the guy jumped up, snapping out of whatever trance he was in.

"I am going back to work Boss, I'll leave them in your care."

"Mh..! Alright, thanks again Ichi-boy."

Yuichi left the group and set at his desk about 10 steps away and started a search on his computer.

"Now then, I have to talk to you boys about something. Wait, let me get a chair."

Both of them sat and Nanako grab the nearest chair with wheels and slide it over to the table.

She sat on the chair with legs crossed with her right elbow on her lap to have her right hand support her chin, leaving her left arm vacant to enjoy some coffee.

"So you boys were cornered by some idiots right?"

"Y-yes."

"Why didn't you take them on? It was just 5 targets."

"Well they were quite big for us and I don't think the combine strength of me and Isao can do anything but run away."

"Oh really? Hmm… that's no good then, I'll have to shape you boys up"

Nanako reaches for her cup of coffee and drank it a little.

"Mmm…! This is pretty good Ichi-boy, we need more of this kind of coffee. Next time remember to buy more of it."

Yuichi answered Nanako's command without looking away from his screen. His answer is "Yes Boss."

Ian and Isao are still confused by what she meant when she'll shape them up.

"Umm… Miss-"

"You guys can call me Boss."

"Ah… ok er.. Boss, what do you mean you'll shape us up?"

Ian asks for both of them because he knows Isao is not going to ask anything.

Scratch that, if Isao were to talk who knows what he'll say.

"Hmm? It is just as what I said, I'll train you guys just like I did with Ichi-boy."

What? She'll do what? But what for? Ian got even more questions now.

Yuichi is done with his task on the computer. When he heard she'll train them, he knew what is going to happen. He turns his chair, facing the couch and coffee table.

"Boss, this month's graduates are in and no one choose to join our branch. Boss, I don't suppose you're-"

"Well no worries, because we have our new recruits here. In fact we have 2 vacant spots left too, just right!" A grin is plastered on her face, but everyone else looked half-shocked.

"YahooOO!" Isao bounced out of his seat. His joy meter overloaded just like a kid getting the present he wants for Christmas.

Everyone's attention goes to him.

"You hear that man! We're going to be Judgment members! Hahaha!"

Isao is shaking Ian's left shoulder. The left and right movement of that arm caused the dumbfounded Ian's body to move back and fourth.

"Wha.. wait. I thought for one to be a Judgment member, one must past many trainings and tryouts." Asked Ian, Isao immediately stop shaking him when he started talking.

He brought up a good point; there are 13 kinds of training to be a judgment member that takes 4 months. Along with passing the training and try-outs, the new recruits must…

"You are right Khaw-san, along with signing 9 contracts. It takes awhile for someone to be a Judgment member, so how are you going to get them in?"

Nanako just finished drinking her cup after Yuichi's sentence. She wipes her mouth with her long sleeved jacket.

"No problem, you can join and learn along the way."

"What about the contracts? And even the legitimate reports of their training?"

"I am sure we can figure something out. It will all work out~!"

Nanako and Isao are having a good time with this while the other two are speechless.

Isao got real psyched. It's his birthday, it's his victory, it is his greatest day.

"Oh yes…! Then it is settled, we can be Judgment members! So when do we start?"

"Right now!"

"Yeah!"

Nanako and Isao are in a world of their own. Then Ian interrupted them.

"One question, why did you pick us? We pretty much were going to flee when those thugs cornered us."

Nanako is confident; she did not take any time to think and said, "Well I saw a little stunt you guys pulled yesterday. I just happen to be patrolling-"

"Cozy in your seat here." Yuichi added to her unfinished sentence.

It made her a little embarrassed. A small hint of blush is visible from cheek to cheek.

"Ahem… monitoring the streets and I saw a girl getting cornered. I sent Yuichi to deal with those hooligans and guess what I saw after I sent him, two guys directing them away. Now that is what I call guts."

Ian and Isao recalled yesterday's endeavor.

"So because of what we did yesterday, you decided to have us join your branch?"

"Yup, we need brave men like you who would go right into danger. Not to mention saving a girl in the process! You boys have already showed your worth to join us."

Nanako still has the smile on her face and the determination in her eyes, but that is just the kind of person she is.

Her answer cleared the question to why she wanted them to join. It made much more sense to Ian now.

"I see, so that explains it. But I am sorry, I will have to decline on that… offer."

Isao and Nanako are shocked at his answer. Who in the right mind would decline such an 'offer' is what they thought.

Isao and Nanako got closer to Ian, which pushed him back further in the couch.

"Whoa wait man, are you serious? Come on, you should join."

"Yeah kid, I don't feel generous all the time you know."

Both of their faces are about two hand distance away. Nanako is over the table while Isao bend down on him, both glaring at Ian, making him very uncomfortable.

"Ah… sorry, I just don't think I am fit for Judgment."

"Well then she'll train us!"

"Ah… but I don't think I'll have the time for-"

"Don't worry, we'll just make time for you boy."

They are really forcing it, they really want Ian in. Ian is staggered as he tries to find a way to get out.

"Boss, you shouldn't force someone to do what they don't want to do. Why do you think new recruits don't want to join us?"

Nanako looked at Yuichi with a sour look on her face then she back away from Ian and sat on her chair again.

"Hmm… I guess you're right, well at least give it some thought. But hurry though, that last vacant spot might get taken."

Nanako has backed down but Isao is still on the offensive.

"Don't worry Boss! I'll try my best to get him in." said Isao as he grips the air.

Nanako gave a thumb up for Isao determination and said, "Good determination!"

"Alright Sao-boy, follow me and I'll give you a run-through on the basics."

Nanako stood up and went to her desk a few footsteps away.

"Um… Sao-boy?" he questioned his name assigned by Nanako.

"Hurry!"

"Oh r-right!" he sped away, following Nanako.

Ian and Yuichi are just audiences of the two hyper people.

"Wow both of them really are active." Commented Ian.

"It would seem she has found her 'right' disciple."

Both of them, still seated, stares at Nanako rapidly giving information and Isao trying his best to understand it all.

"So I have one more question before I go, if I may ask you."

Ian turned his attention to Yuichi and Yuichi did the same.

"What do you want to ask?"

"About that ability you used on those thugs, you were controlling light isn't it?"

"Yeah, I was."

"So the way you did it was trapping light at once spot then releasing it in one burst, am I right?"

Yuichi leaned to the right of his chair with his right hand supporting his head.

"Impressive, you figured it out with just one look?"

"Ah haha… no, more like a lucky guess."

"Photo Sphere is the name of my ability."

Ian move forward from his seat, not leaning on the sofa anymore. Both his arms supporting his upper body by pushing on his lap.

"Photo Sphere huh? Is that how you made us 'black-out' when we were cornered by the thug?"

"Yes, I made spheres around your eyes so no light can penetrate your irises."

In his imagination, Ian pictured 2 dark orbs around his eyes. Sort of a comical imagination to him as his imaginary self is wondering aimlessly.

"And you can make spheres at any location?"

"No, I can make spheres when I come in contact with light, it just travels to the location I desire. Light does travel very fast you know."

"Ah that's right, I see now."

With questions now answered, a brief silence is with Ian and Yuichi. Perhaps not because the voices of the Boss and Isao can be heard, going on and on with details of Judgment.

Ian takes a look at his digital wrist watch.

"Well, I should get going now, don't want to disturb your work."

He got up from the sofa.

"Okay, thanks for your cooperation."

Yuichi sits straight on his chair and give his regards with a wave of his hand.

"Bye, well maybe we'll see each other again."

Ian turns his head to Isao, knowing if he is to find him he must go there again.

Yuichi understood what Ian is hinting at so he closed his eye, smiled, and nodded.

Before exiting the branch, Ian had one more thing to do.

"Hey Isao, I am going now. I'll see you later."

The new Judgment recruit turned his head back to Ian.

"O-oh ok, I'll see you tomorrow in school then."

"PAY ATTENTION!"

"Uwa! Right!"

Isao's attention went straight to the Boss by the sound of her demanding voice.

Ian stood at the door, chuckling, and left the branch.

He walked down the stairs and out to the streets. He looks at the branch, located on the third floor of the 4 floored building.

"Judgment huh..?"

He looks around and back at his watch, almost like an obsession for knowing time but it is a habit, a very hard to break habit. It tells the time, day, date, and year but nothing else, yet why does he always look at that piece of machinery? He just doesn't know.

(Guess I'll have lunch)

Ian walks away from the building, along the sidewalk.

In his mind, thoughts of hamburgers sound very good to him. There is a hamburger stand in the park he and Isao was going to, not too pricy and quite filling, that's a deal right there. And a bonus, the park is very close to where he is at. Add all these factor up and it is hamburger for lunch.

"Hmm? Hey Ian, Steven here!"

Steven is calling Ian, he is about 15 meters away from Ian's back.

Ian stopped and turned around to identify who is calling him.

Steven is walking towards Ian with one hand waving in the air and the other holding a briefcase.

"Oh Dr. C- Steven, how are you doing?"

Steven is now a meter away from Ian, a good distance for talking of course.

"I am doing well, thank you. I had just finished up with preparations and felt a little need for nourishment."

"Oh I was just heading to the park for some burgers."

The doctor lightly holds his chin with his right hand.

"Burgers? That sounds like a fine idea. Do you mind if I join you?"

"Ah it is no problem, you can join if you want."

"Good, lead the way then." he got out his right palm like a handshake, signaling that they should go to this burger stand.

"Alright follow me"

They start to move towards to the park and away from the 139th branch.

**Part 2**

"I am going to get you now! Hahaha!"

Children are running around in a vast field with some trees scattered in the middle. The field is split by a flat brick path with benches placed 20 meters away from each other. A tree is planted beside each bench, and also a trashcan to keep litter in its place. A moderate sized lake can be seen in the distant with some boats and ducks on water.

It is like a transformation from the city to the nature because this park is placed in the middle of Academy City. At the parameter of the park are roads around it and after the roads are buildings, from two to eight stories high. It makes a great shortcut for students to go to classes.

Couples and parents are enjoying the greenery. Students are using this scenic place as a spot to read. Children are laughing and playing around, some with kites. There are not too many people in the park so it is not too crowded. Some food stands are on the placed along the path, selling ice creams, balloons, crapes, and of course, hamburgers.

If there ever is a stressful week, a day in the park will blow it all away.

At the burger stand, there is a small line. In front of the line are Ian and Steven.

"Here you go sir, your burgers are ready."

"Thank you."

Ian is going for his wallet in his right pocket when Steven interrupted him by tapping him by his shoulder.

"It's okay, this will be my treat."

"Oh uh, thanks then."

Usually Ian would pay for his needs but if someone he thinks he can trust is offering, then why not?

Steven pulled out some cash from his shirt pocket and paid the vendor.

He sees a brochure of the burger stand. Why not take it just this once, Ian thought. Usually it will just end up as scrap paper but he had other motives for it.

After the change and food is taken, they stood a few meters away from the stand. Ian started unwrapping his burger and took a bite out from it while Steven is holding his burger with one hand and his briefcase with the next.

"What's wrong? Do you need help with it?"

"Oh I'm fine, no need to worry."

He sets his briefcase beside his leg and joined Ian with his lunch.

"So I've been wondering, how do you um… use your ability?"

After saying that, he took another bite.

"Well I can't really describe it but I can feel my sense of perception increase with the intensity of my input."

"So you just feel… smarter I guess?"

"More or less."

Steven has his unwrapped burger in his hands. He stares at it for a second or two and takes a bite from it.

"But sometimes it comes so naturally, I don't even realize I was using my ability. Of course at that time I was doing something I enjoyed."

"I see, hamf-"

He finishes chewing and swallows.

"So, do you mind if I test you? I want to see how it works."

Ian pulls the brochure he got from the burger stand earlier.

"No problem, I'd be glad to. It has been awhile ever since I have to 'show off'."

Ian nods and goes to unfold the brochure. But before he can completely do so…

"Wait, I want you to do this. Just show it to me real quick and hide it, I guarantee you I'll be able to read the whole part shown."

Eyebrows raised, Ian is already impressed at what he is asking for him to do. This ability must really be something to be able to glance at something and understand it all.

Steven started to focus, his face tensed a little.

Ian puts the brochure behind his back and quickly pulled it out right in front of Steven and back again.

"Is that good enough?"

Ian smiled but at the same time he thought maybe that was too fast and he should've did a 1 second pause.

The doctor smiled.

"Yes, it was sufficient. Would you like me to read the slogan, menu, or affiliations?"

"Hmm…?"

Ian checked the brochure and surely, the slogan, menu, and affiliations are on it. He thought it might be a coincidence because there might be the possibility brochures from food stands be close to or the same. Plus the large titles are a giveaway.

"A… alright, how about you name me the ingredients of the… Volcanic Amazon Burger."

"Crispy chicken with spicy exotic sauce and the house 'secret sauce', and wild greens on a sesame seed or wheat bun."

"…! Whoa, nice…!"

The doctor is right, he named the description perfectly. There were no mistakes at all. It left Ian with a smile on his face.

After a few more 'tests', Ian is satisfied, like seeing a popular magic trick that has been the talk for awhile. His burger is untouched after the two bites he had.

"Wow, no wonder you're a famous scientist. To be able to understand the perceive information so quick is amazing."

He remembers his burger he had on his right hand and takes another bite out of it.

"Hahaha, well I can't really perceive that quick all the time. If I do, my brain will overwork and possibly killing myself. That was just a one time glance so it is fine."

Steven's burger is in the same condition as Ian's, untouched since the 'quick test', but he did not take another bite yet. Guess one could say he likes to hold it.

Ian is still eating but he nods to show that he is listening.

"By the way, is Isao still considering in joining my research?"

"Mmm… yeah, about that."

He quickly empties his mouth to engage in a verbal conversation.

"He just joined Judgment today so I am not sure what his decision is yet, though he was pretty enthusiastic about it yesterday."

The doctor reached in his shirt pocket, the same pocket he pulled the cash form, and pulled out a card. It is a business card but it is different from the one he gave Ian and Isao the day before. This is a black card with a nice, linear gloss to it that reflects light in several different colors.

"I see. Well could you do me a favor and pass this card to him? It contains information that can contact me quickly and directly too."

He looks at the card, that unique card. The production of the card seems rather elaborate, for the surface is covered with a high quality plastic and the inner gloss reflects the doctor's name and phone number. Quite impressive.

Ian took the card and examined it at different angles, impressed at how it is made.

"I see, but do you really need him to contact you that fast?"

"Oh no, it is just a card that I give to my assistants and colleague to contact me on progress. I do prefer to have total authority on my work."

"Hmm… I see."

After examining the card, Ian slides it into his jean pocket.

"Alright then, I'll pass the card to him."

The doctor gave a small bow, a very kind and civilized gesture to thank people with.

"Thank you, you've did me a great favor."

"No problem, just count it as a return favor for the burger."

He points at the wrapper of the burger, now emptied of its content. An amateur fast eater but it is well enough to impress the doctor.

"Hahaha, I guess we are on equal terms then."

Steven picks his briefcase up with his vacant hand, his burger still untouched.

"I must be going now, please excuse me. I'll see you some time later then."

"Oh okay then, thanks again for the food."

The doctor walks away and Ian waves goodbye to the doc.

Lunchtime with the doctor gave Ian some spending cash. He is already thinking of spending it in the arcade, this guy who lives to play digital games.

After a quick stretch and putting litter in its proper place, he heads back to the 139th branch to pass the unique card to a certain carefree friend.

"Hmm… a little thirsty, I should get something to drink first."

Seeking to quench his thirst, he heads to the vending machine. It might seem strange but there are vending machines in the middle of the park and it does its job well.

"Hmm… think I'll try this one."

He reaches for his wallet to get some change. While doing so, he notices a student walking in the same path where the vending machine is placed.

That student is a girl wearing school uniform. A high school student with long, black hair and cute looks. She has a short sleeved, button down shirt under a sailor style collar with the school logo on it, and a medium length, black skirt. Her height is shorter than Ian's. She is about 15 meters away.

Pretty typical scene since this is Academy City, students are everywhere. So Ian went back to getting change from his wallet.

"…aah, please move away…!"

(Hmm?)

He hears a distant scream from the opposite end of where the student is. It belongs to a guy and he sounds quite distressed.

Both Ian and the student's attention are turned to the distress call. What they see is a guy running towards them. He had black, spiky hair, wearing school uniform, and sprinting with all his might.

Just who is this guy? Did he commit something wrong? Is he being chased by Antiskill?

That runner is dodging a few people, startling them in the process. No one seems to bother getting into it, just watching as he runs by. The same goes for Ian.

"Don't run! Stop and fight!"

This time it's a girl shouting. Her voice, bold, strong and angry, can be heard from all around the area. It came from behind the runner.

Wondering who shouted, Ian tried to take a good look at who it is. He moved left and right and finally see who is chasing this guy.

A middle schooler, brown hair spanning to her shoulder, good looks without makeup, wearing school attire. A light brown sweater vest over white button down shirt, a small grey skirt, baggy socks that reached below the knee, and black shoes.

Ian noticed the sweater vest on the pursuer, it's from Tokiwadai. He knew then the guy had all the reason to be fleeing.

Why would a guy flee from a middle school girl? The answer is because she is from Tokiwadai. Tokiwadai Middle is one of the most prestigious schools in Academy City. The school only accepts students who are level 3 or higher so the pursuer is a level 3 or higher.

But the question remains, why is he being chased? Usually students from Tokiwadai are not aggressive. Perhaps he must have done something to really piss her off.

Now, the runner passed Ian, the pursuer is still a good running distance away from him. About 150 meters away.

Ian feels a slight discomfort in his head, like a combination of headache and dizziness, but it is short-lived.

"Haa! Haa! Haa! Haa! Uwa-!"

While running and getting closer to the female student, he tripped on a crushed can. The result, a full body plant to the brick floor. Strange, usually litter is cleaned up by the sanitary robot.

Thump!

The fall kicked up a small gust that gently blew her skirt up a little.

"Ouch…"

He recovered on all fours and notices the female student on his right.

"Ah sorry."

She accepted his apology for startling her (and everyone) by smiling with pity.

*Fwooo!* A sudden gust blew out of nowhere.

It completely lifted her skirt up in the air and her pantie is visible.

Both Ian and the guy are shocked, their faces red by the sight of her white, pink polka-dotted, panty. There are frills on the sides too.

Realizing her skirt is up, she quickly pushes her skirt down. Her face is glowing red and not a word came out from her; too embarrassed to do anything except stare down.

Both the boys are still staring at her with their mouths open in shock.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?"

The shout of the middle schooler snapped everyone back to the situation.

The middle schooler is now about 30 meters away and closing in.

"Uwha!"

The guy quickly got up and continued running pass the embarrassed female student.

Seconds later, the middle schooler ran pass Ian and the student. She made a turn as the runner did too.

Now both the runner and pursuer are gone.

Ian just looks at the direction where the 2 people disappeared. 'Guess this is common in the famous city called Academy City', thought Ian as he dismisses it.

While his attention is still directed at the distance, the female student straighten up and begin marching towards Ian. He notices her approaching him with an angry look, that made him got on guard for what's to come.

"You! D-did you see anything?"

Her glare became very unbarring for Ian. He shakes his head and quickly gave an answer.

"No, no, I did not see anything!"

Though in Ian's mind, he knew he saw more than nothing.

The polka-dotted wearer did not believe what he said, her face is still sour. Her eyes are also half teary.

"Mhh..! Good!"

But she let him off the hook since it was not his fault entirely; he was just there at the wrong place and wrong time. Then she walks pass Ian, continuing her walk.

Ian did not even dared to turn around to see her walk away. He thinks if he does, he might be taken to Antiskill custody for something like sexual assault.

After a bit he let out a sigh of relief.

"Man, things got a little crazy there…"

Everything in the park went to normal, no signs of those two anymore. Everyone when their own ways, like a bystander witnessing a high speed car chase. It came quickly and disappeared.

"Hmm… I'm feeling even thirstier now."

Ian went back to putting change in the machine and he got his drink of choice.

**Part 3**

Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta, keystrokes of a keyboard

Sitting in front of his desk, Yuichi is preoccupied with some minor work.

"Report done."

Something is different about the branch now.

A few hours ago, there was something in the branch. Perhaps there was someone, or two.

Yes, the branch is quite due to the absence of Isao and Nanako. Only Yuichi is on the watch; manning the station.

*Taka-Taka* clicks of a mouse which brought up a few windows on screen imaging the streets.

A hard worker or just bored, only he knows.

He sits back at his chair, stretching a little. Then he stares at his monitor.

(There is always something going on, eyes must be on the look out.)

Yuichi sits back up and gets clicking on his computer.

Tok tok, knocks on the 139th's front door.

He turns his head towards the door

Who could that be? Perhaps the 'loud twos' are back.

The door unlocks and opens, Ian stuck his head over.

"Oh it's you. You're back sooner than I thought."

Ian greeted Yuichi with a 'hey' and he walked into the branch.

"I am looking for Isao, is he… hmm. Where is he?"

He looks left and right but no sign of Isao is at sight. While he is at it, he notices 'the Boss' is not in too.

Yuichi points out a window close to his desk. It showed the back of another building, not very scenic. All there is are drain pipes and AC units on the walls.

"They went back to start on Isao's training. I am in charge of the branch for now."

Spontaneous is the right word here, the Boss is already training Isao.

Ian is thinking how her training like is. Pretty hard to imagine since he has never seen anyone train someone before, maybe something like the movies where the master gives its pupil training like balancing or endurance. His imagination can only go so far.

"Oh I see, so I guess I'll just head down and find him then."

Ian turns around to get back out.

"When you're back there, keep walking straight. You should see them there."

"I see. Thanks. See you later then."

Ian exits the branch and the door closed behind him.

Yuichi turns back to his computer and continued clicking again.

At the entrance to the alley, Ian stood looking at the path.

(Something like this morning can't possibly happen again, right?)

He felt like it might actually happen again or maybe it is just because that experience is still fresh. Either way, he ventures into the alley.

"…Wah…! …Hot…!"

Isao's voice echoed through the alley. Sounds like he is in trouble but Ian did not felt the need to rush to him. It is just the training Isao is going through.

As he walks in further and turned right, sounds of crackling and 'fwoosh' can be heard.

In front of him is an intersection in the alley. Bright orange light can be seen glowing on the right edge of the intersection. It seems like the path opens to a middle of a big area.

"…Whoa-whoa-whoa- wait! …Hot!"

At the intersection, the path opens to an area the size of a basketball field. Some parts of the wall were blacken with dark spots like a flamethrower was used there.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" roars from the Boss.

Ian stood there watching, asking himself what are they doing. On his right, Isao is pinned on the wall with a frighten expression and the Boss with her palm out below a ball of fire.

This scene looks like a murderer pointing a gun at the victim who is unable to do anything to fight or escape. Isao is a little burned up and the Boss is having fun.

(Seriously, what are they doing..?)

The preoccupied Isao noticed Ian. His distracted look made the Boss turned to Ian too.

"Oh it's you."

The fireball on the Boss' hand dissipates.

"Haa…haa…haa… h-hey I-I-Ian."

Ian raised his right hand to greet them.

"Um… hi guys. Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all, you want to join us?"

Ian's greeting hand turned to a 'no thank you' hand, shaking left and right.

"Ah-haha no… no thanks. I am just here to pass Isao something."

"O-o-oh… c-could you put it in my wallet t-there?"

Isao struggles but he manages to point at Ian's direction. To be accurate, the direction is somewhere right of Ian's feet.

Ian spots Isao's wallet, along with his watch and cell phone, and he ducks to slide the unique business card in.

"Alright, let's continue where we left off."

She stretches her right arm out, palm open and lines of orange glow start to spiral at the center of her palm.

*Fwhom* in no time she has a ball of fire on her hand.

"Kuu-!"

Isao's full attention is back at the Boss who is smiling maliciously.

"Dodge this!"

She tosses the fireball at him.

It traveled rather fast and got close in a matter of a second, about half a meter away from Isao's head.

"Wah!"

He manages to duck in time and ran forward. Then he ran right, passing the middle of the area and more.

The Boss gave no quarters and kept tossing flaming shots at the defenseless boy.

Ian just stood at the middle, the entrance of the path he entered, and watch, a little worried. He wonders if he should help him because he looks like he is in a pinch.

Not just look like, he IS in a pinch and Isao's exhausted look is screaming it.

"Hah! Hut! Hyah!"

The Boss energetically tosses more flaming deaths at Isao. Again he barely dodges them.

Ian turned his view to the Boss.

"You must predict or at least know where the shot will land Sao-boy!"

Isao, who is at the end of the area opposite to the Boss, is standing in the middle, shaking and exhausted. He looks like some scared guy out from a manga.

"Remember, this is just the basics. I have yet to do hard ones so you must prepare!"

"Y-yes Boss!"

"Good, now get ready!"

She bombards more flames at him. This time he is just running in circles.

As Ian is watching, he is studying how the Boss tosses her attacks.

Toss fireball, arm stretched out. Pull arm down while making flame. When arm reaches back at shoulder height, fireball complete. Proceeds to tossing using a baseball throw but with one hand.

In summary, it looked like she is drawing an oval with her arm. It is quite fast too, about 1 fireball per second.

(She must be a high level, but what level is she?)

By now, the walls behind Isao have been redecorated with charcoal.

"Alright, the last one. It is time for the hard one let's see you can dodge this!"

Isao is still running in circles, out of breath and can't think straight.

"Ha..haa… yes.. Boss…"

Can he really do it? Ian look at Isao like he is will be seeing him in the hospital tomorrow.

He switches back to the Boss and watched.

She stood still, grinning, with her arm out.

(What should I get him when I visit him in the hospital tomorrow?)

Ian is already planning for the next day.

Her palm open, orange glowing lines spiral in, but instead of a fireball, this time it spins anticlockwise rapidly.

"!"

What is this? Ian felt something strange. His sights are fully focused on the Boss.

She goes to her throwing stage and it looks like this throw will be a straight one.

…Wait, no it will not. But it seems like it wi- No. This throw will curve. How does he know it? He could not understand this and everything to him at that moment is slowed down to him.

The throw will curve and it will curve to the left. It does not make sense but yet it makes total sense.

What is at work here? How does he know this?

(It's intuition.)

That thought echoed through his mind, everything went back to normal speed.

The Boss tosses her curve ball at Isao.

"Isao stop running now and lean back!"

He is staring directly at the Boss but as if he knew where Isao current location is, he ordered him to do what he told him.

"…huh..? ok…"

Isao's is delirious but he followed what Ian said.

Just as he lean back, the flaming curveball passed right in front of his face, about a hand distance away. His eyes were closed but the heat woke him up; now eyes wide open and teeth clenched with shock.

*Fussssssshh* that flaming curveball hit the wall.

Isao blinked and slowly turned his head to Ian. The Boss and Ian are looking at each other.

What just happen?

That is the question all three of them are asking in their mind.

"Well well, you have proven to me once again you're Judgment material. You must join our branch!"

"Whoa man that was close, thanks."

Ian is still staring at the Boss then he slowly looked around. His gaze led him to Isao.

"If you can see my throw curving to that degree, you are well qualified to join the 139th."

"A…ah… I uh… I don't know what happen. It just… it just hit me."

Isao is still standing at the same spot. He doesn't want to get close because that would mean getting close to the Boss in this training. It still seem dangerous to him.

"Well thanks to that you saved me, I owe you one man."

The Boss is getting impatient. She had asked Ian to join them, twice and still got no answer.

"Hey do you hear me? I said do you want to join our branch or not?"

Ian turned his head to the Boss again.

"A… no, no thanks."

"Hmm… alright then, but remember, if you ever want to join Judgment, it'd better be ours okay?"

The boss shows her teeth again, grinning and hoping for this 'new recruit' to join them.

She turns to Isao which startled him.

"Alright, dodging exercise is over, it is time for the next lesson. Combat training!"

Isao straighten up like a military soldier. His arms on his side, feet together, and face up.

"Y-yes Boss!"

Ian is acting differently now. It seems like he is a little tired.

"Um… I'll go home then. I'll see you later then…"

He turns around and slowly walks away.

"Alright then, come and join Judgment next time okay!"

"See you later man."

As Ian is walking away from that area, he is still wondering what happen. But he could not think straight, he looked very tired.

"Alright then, this is the arm lock!"

"…Ouch! …Ahh!"

Their voices echoed through the alley but Ian did not pay much attention to it.

All Ian wants to do now is go back to his dormitory.

**Part 4**

Kr-r-r-r-r-cick! The front door opened after a key is inserted.

Ian stood in front of the door, tired.

His journey back home felt like hours but it was actually 40 minutes of walking.

He closes the door and locks it, drops his keys on the kitchen counter and proceed to his bed.

Upon reaching his bed, he falls on the cushion and springs which bounced him a little.

(What time is it…? Not even evening yet… I am so tired… I think I'll take a nap… have to change… … …forget it…)

Ian lay in bed staring at his pillow. His routine for getting in bed was to change into something new, unexposed to the outdoors and clean, but this time he is too tired.

The room is considerably bright with the curtains open. It is still bright and shiny in Academy City.

As he lies in bed, slowly his mind drifts away.

(… that is my pillow… my soft pillow… I should get it… … … … … hmm…? …why is it so dark all of a sudden?)

His eyes slowly unclose.

The room is dark, there is no light shining through the windows.

Ian got up and looked around with his mind half awake.

Slowly, he realized that it is already night time. He gaze his digital clock and it read 8:34PM.

8:34 PM at night in Academy City.

Ian knows he doesn't have much to do outside in Academy City at this hour, so he plans his plans at his dormitory.

He goes to the bathroom and cleans himself up.

'…and put it in for 45 minutes and the dish will be done.'

Sitting on his bed, Ian is currently watching television.

Across his bed is cabinets and in one of those cabinets, it houses a flat screen television.

Though he is watching the cooking channel, his mind drifts off to the events earlier.

What happen in that alley? He ponders for answers.

Was it shock or adrenalin? Maybe it was the burger he had earlier.

"Ah..! I don't know anymore!"

He shakes his head with his palm on his eyes. Then he went back to watching television.

'… and with this, you should add more fire to the pan.'

Fire?

That word made him remember how the Boss was hurling fireballs.

He got his palm out, staring at it, and then did a twirling motion with it. Ian is half heartedly trying to produce what he saw. What is he hoping for?

"Fire huh?"

(Hmm… the Boss is a pyrokinesis. She can control flames, that's cool. So she creates flames out of thin air then. Somehow she made a spark and- Hmm?)

While twirling, a spark flickered in the middle of the motion.

Startled, he thought he must be seeing things as he rubs his eye with his other hand. Perhaps Ian is still tired. The hand that sparked, his right hand, is held out.

Then he tries to concentrate, staring deep into his palm. All his vision is at the center, everything else is practically ignored.

The television's volume seems to slowly die as everything went silent. Then there is…

Pak!

A spark! This time there is no doubt about it because at the center of his palm, a small fire is burning like a matchstick on fire.

Ian's eyes slowly opens wider.

This is it! Supernatural power! ESP! Fire! Those thought going back and forth in his mind. This must be how the cavemen felt when they discovered fire!

He has done it, he has acquired it. He is an ability user! He is an Esper!

Pop music starts playing. The stereo is a cell phone. It is a ring tone and someone is calling the phone.

Someone picked up the cell phone and that someone had bandages around his head and other parts of his body.

It is Isao and he is at his place.

*Beep* "Hello? Ian? Hey man wassu- You what? Hey Great man- Ouch…!"

Isao jumped up and he felt his ribs throbbing.

"Sorry, still in pain from the training. Yeah great man, show it to me tomorrow at school then! I can't really move right now. Okay man. Congrats man. Alright, I'll see you later."

*Beep*

"Wow this is cool! By far the best weekend ever! Hahaha- Ouu… my chest…"

Isao is comfortably sitting on his sofa at home and in front of him is a coffee table piled with first aid kits.

"Ha… I should rest now, in too much pain for gaming tonight.."

Tok Tok! The front door is being knocked.

"Yes, coming."

He slowly gets up and limps himself to the door.

Isao unlocks the door to see who came to visit him.

As the door opens, two students are standing in front of it, a guy and a girl.

Who are they? Isao asks. Then he thought why did they come at this hour?

"Er… can I help you?"

Both of the students are high school students. Everything about them is normal except for their emotionless expressions.

They even had on an additional accessory, a choker.

Usually if it is for a girl, it is stylish but for a guy it is strange.

Isao felt a little uneasy about them. They looked a bit strange and they did not answer him yet.

"Um… I am going to-"

The guy raised his hand up to Isao's face.

"Huh?"

A bright flash of light exploded around the area.

It is noticeable to the people walking around the area since the apartment building's third floor shined. But it could also be a blown light or prank so none bothered about it.

Then just as quickly as it shine, it went out.

And the darkness falls on Academy City once more.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: One Who Knows All He Preceives - Self_Intuitive_Manipulation**

**Part 1**

6:59 AM

Monday morning, a school morning.

While he is usually asleep at this time, Ian is wide awake on his bed with his right hand partway reaching the ceiling.

The room slowly flickered in an orange glow, on and off. The source is at the hand of the only person in that room.

He is playing with fire and loving every second of it, mesmerized and amazed.

Just how it is that he is able to produce flames by will? It seems like energy is being produced from nothing, but he knows that is not true.

The fire on his palm is about the size of a baseball and for a beginner, it is quite the size. It is no surprise to Ian considering he did practiced for 2 hours straight.

(This is not a dream, this is real!)

Unable to use any ability ever since he arrived to Academy City, his dream is finally at his palm in the form of light and heat.

7:00 AM

The clock's built in alarm switched on, tuning on a certain radio channel.

That is the call for him to get up; that is the call for him to get ready for school.

He clamps out the fire at his palm and jumped out of bed.

He can't wait to show his new found ability to someone, anyone, just as long as it is a person. But he made up his mind the first person to show is Isao.

While commuting to school, Ian really wants to play with fire but he knows he might get into a little trouble with the authority if he is to use his ability for no legitimate reason.

So he suppresses his anticipation until he reaches school and finds Isao.

He walked to school with a smile on his face and occasionally taking a few peek at his right palm.

If someone looked at him, they might think he has won a lottery, got a new girlfriend or just plain crazy.

The walk to school was brief, all thanks to the entertainment on his right palm.

As he arrived to his school, his priority is to seat in the classroom and wait for Isao. His classmates as well as other students are around the classroom, in a groups or alone, either at a desk or standing around the classroom.

Ian sat patiently and waited; waited for that loud person to share his happiness with.

"Come on, where is he."

"Hey Ian wassup?"

Ian's attention directed to the call. It was a fellow classmate who noticed Ian's good mood this day. He is a few meters away and approaching.

"Oh hey, nothing much."

"Why are you so excited? Did something good happen?"

"Oh-ho-ho yes, something exciting did happen."

"Really? What is it?"

Ian's excitement grew even more now that there is someone asking. He wanted real badly to tell this person of his new found ability but he is too stubborn for he already plans to tell Isao first.

Possibly following the saying 'good things come to the ones who wait.'

"Hm-hm-hm.. you will have to wait until Isao is here my good friend, then I'll reveal the truth behind my excitement."

Ian gave the classmate a thumbs up as he finishes his reply.

"What? Aw come on, you're always like that! Why do I have to wait just because you've set some conditions?"

"Sorry my friend, but that's just me."

Knowing that Ian is not going to talk, the classmate gives up. He said bye and went back to his spot in the classroom.

Ian resumes his wait for Isao, staring at the classroom entrance.

( Come on, where are you?)

*B-B-R-R-R-I-N-G* the school bell sounded. Time for class is a few minutes away.

Students started to move to their respective classes and seats. Most of them are walking and some are jogging.

Ian is disappointed that Isao did not make it to school.

"Maybe he is lat- Ohh.."

He remembered yesterday's event with Isao's training. Perhaps Isao is really at the infirmary or quite possibly the hospital.

(Man, what brutal training. Guess I better think of something to get him then.)

Although he just spoke with Isao last night and he was at home. Were his injuries that severe?

An idea popped out, it is probably muscle cramps. To train that hard in a day would probably knockout any average person.

"That's probably it, nothing too serious then."

Without any options, Ian waited till school ends for the day, and just as time skips…

**Part 2**

*B-B-R-R-R-I-N-G* the sound of school dismissal at 2:30 PM.

Unlike any public high school, the school Ian is enrolled in ends early. Students get to leave early for the price of studying more in classes and having short breaks in-between.

A good price to pay for those who excel in academics.

Students leave the building in a matter of minutes; leaving to go on with their lives either hanging out with friends, doing research, having lunch, or any other activities.

For those who are staying after, they have cleaning duties to attend to. Luckily for Ian, his cleaning duties aren't assigned to him on this day.

Well if he can't come to Ian, Ian will have to go to him and without much ado he started his way to Isao's dormitory.

District 7

One of the 23 districts in Academy City which houses middle to high school students.

East of the district at a certain building is where Kokawa's dorm is located.

At the 4th floor of the building, Ian stood in front of room 406.

*Dok dok*

…

*Dok dok dok*

"Hey Isao, it's me Ian. Are you in?"

Only silence replied.

Ian pushed his head, mainly his right ear, to the door.

Sounds of commercials could be heard from the inside. The television is on.

Ian wants to knock again but that's already been tried twice, so he took another step to get himself in.

On the right of the door is a steeled-barred window.

Ian checks the window for a tiny unlocking object; the key to the front door.

"Found it."

In a matter of seconds, the elusive key whose color blended in the surroundings of the window is discovered.

He then proceeds into the dorm.

There is not much difference in the dormitory design, everything was very close to Ian's dorm; the kitchen is right at the entrance and the whole room is after. The one single difference is the bathroom is placed in the middle of the room, beside the kitchen counter.

The intruder walked in without any worry of breaking and entering.

"Hey Isao, you in?"

Again, only silence and the background of the television replied.

His attention got directed to the coffee table in the middle of the room and on it were first aid kits. The kits appear to be used midway for some bandage rolls are not kept and the alcohol bottle is uncapped.

Kokawa Isao doesn't know how to clean up is what Ian thought.

He begins to examine the table closely.

Business card.

"?"

On the side of the table lies a business card, an awfully familiar one too.

He picked it up and began to study the contents.

"A-R-C. The Ability Research Center. Head of the department, Doctor Connor."

An answer to where Isao is at, probably.

Ian's initial objective was to look for Kokawa at his place. If he is not there then it is off to the 139th branch.

But now, he has another new area to look for Isao.

(What a pain, where is that guy?)

He lifts up his right palm and *fuomh* made a small fire.

A very cute, happy music starts playing from the television which directed his attention to it.

The fire dissipates from his hand as he watches the screen.

"…Magical Powered Kanamin, airing soon huh?"

Well his job there is done, for now.

With no Isao at sight, Ian leaves for his next course, the 139th branch.

Doing a little favor for Kokawa, Ian shuts the television for him and proceeds to the exit.

As he is about to leave, he subconsciously shuts off the light.

(Hmm? Was the light on? Nah, probably my imagination.)

And the person exits the dorm and closes the door.

*Pon Pon* cars in front of the 139th building honking.

Traffic is good on the streets so the honk is not for the congested roads, but to warn some students running in front of cars.

In the 139th branch, Nakayama Yuichi and Tanaka Nanako are busy at work at their designated work station given by, of course, Tanaka Nanako 'the Boss' herself.

"Hey Ichi-boy, could ya pass me the C-files?"

Nakayama pulls a file off his pile and hands it over to the 'Boss', stretching his arm out but still keeping focus on his work.

"Thank you." she receives it.

*Dok dok dok*

Both of the Judgment members turned to the door and from it entered Ian.

"Hey, am I intruding?"

He closed the door behind him.

The 'Boss' stood up immediately from her seat.

Even though Ian only met her a day ago, he can sense that woman's intentions.

"I guess you've finally made up your mind huh? Well good to know that you're joining the party."

"Huh? Made up my mind about what?"

Nakayama continues to write his reports.

"Oh don't play stupid with me; you know what I am talking about. Joining us, the 139th branch, one of the best!"

The 'Boss' approaches Ian and stood in front of him.

From a distance, one can see that she's a little taller than Ian but to Ian at that moment, he felt as if he is looking at a tall wall.

She smacked her left hand on Ian's shoulder a couple of times.

"Don't worry, if you're with us I promise you'll be a full fledge member in no time!"

"Oh, ah-haha.. that, yes, that. I actually still don't want to be a part of it."

Ian held both his hands up to shoulder level, gesturing a no thanks, please back off sign.

"Huh? You still have not made up your mind yet? Alright then boy, I'll give you some more time."

"N-no, I said I would like to decli-"

"Alright, back to work then!"

She returns to her post, back to reviewing her files she got from Nakayama.

Ian just learned something at that time that it is impossible to persuade someone like her.

Sensing Ian had some business to visit their branch, Nakayama asks the visitor like any helpful personnel would.

"So Khaw-san, how can I help you?"

"Ah, I actually came here looking for Isao, have you seen him?"

Tanaka immediately jumped a little when she heard Isao's name.

"Kokawa-san? Have not seen him today, only yesterday when we parted him with some first aid kits..."

Tanaka stood up from her chair and proceeds to the kitchen with her back facing them.

"…thanks to the 'Boss' there."

Her movements completely stopped in guilt. It would seem that guilt has the power to stop the 'Boss' herself.

"Oh I see. She trained him that bad huh?"

Tanaka Nanako quickly turned around and placed her palm together, in a sorry gesture.

"Sorry! I know I was too rough now but yesterday I got a little too excited!"

"A little too excited 'Boss'?"

Another guilt ridden shiver goes through Tanaka.

"Ah.. Alright, maybe I was too excited but that's why I gave him a day off today, or until he gets better."

She lifts her head up to look at Ian.

"Please if you see Sao-boy, tell him he'll be getting free lunch for a week when he gets back."

"Uh.. okay, I will do that."

"Thank you, I knew you would understand!"

She bows to Ian.

Nakayama interrupted her apology by saying, "You're apologizing to the wrong person 'Boss'."

"Ah? Ah-hahahaha, anyway, do you want some coffee? I'll go make some now."

Tanaka exits the room to the kitchen.

Ian and Yuichi stares as she exits.

"Well if Isao has not come back here then I have one more spot to look for him."

It all pieced together for Ian, if Isao is injured that badly, he would probably go to the doctor for some medical treatment. But Ian knows that Kokawa Isao's definition of doctor from the name Dr. Connor is wrong. He might just find him with the doctor.

"What's the matter? Did something happen to Kokawa-san?"

"Ah no, it's just that he wasn't at school or home today so I am searching for him."

*Ting-klin-lin-lin!* from the kitchen a tea spoon fell.

"Umm... should I give him a whole month's of lunch?" Nanako questions form the kitchen.

"Well I still have one more spot to look for him so when I find him I'll inform you guys."

"I see, alright then. See you later Khaw-san."

"And think about it okay Khaw-boy!"

Even at her position, she still manages to stand tall for what she aims for, that 'Boss' lady of the 139th branch.

"Alright then, see you later"

And the guess exits the building.

District 10

The district has other research facilities, but this district in Academy City known for nuclear energy research facilities.

The ARC building is located a fair walking upon entering the 10th district from the 7th district.

"This is becoming a pain."

Ian stood on the paved walkway beside the road reading the business card.

He points his left index finger straight to guide him, a habit done subconsciously.

Ability Research Center.

It is a building with 3 stories taking 50 meters up in width and 90 meters in length.

The building is smaller than that dimensions, the extra surplus of land is for parking space.

There is a big difference between it and the rest of the buildings beside it, like a row of plain sponge cake are cut in the middle to substitute a creamy, soft chocolate cake.

Ian takes a look at the sleek building, admiring the architecture of Academy City.

And he enters.

In the research building, it is no surprise to see a number researchers and interns but it surprised the naive Ian for there are students there, about the same amount of workers, helping out this research facility.

It could just be some part time job or maybe work experience but the city never seizes to surprise Ian.

He spots a receptionist's desk and what else is he to do but ask for direction.

"Um.. Hi, I am looking for Dr. Connor. Could you tell me where his office is?"

The lady behind the desk finishes a few strokes on the keyboard then turn to offer her help.

"Sorry, Dr. Connor is busy at this moment. He will be done shortly so could you please wait by the seats? I'll inform him of your request when he is done."

"Oh thank you."

Ian followed her instructions and waited by the seats.

To keep guess entertained, a 49" plasma television is hung from the ceiling of the first floor, facing the seats which only harbor Ian at the moment.

The current channel showed weather report for Academy City.

Sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny, and cloudy.

The days are getting warmer in spring.

With nothing interesting on screen, Ian stares at the hardworking people walking around, moving files, pushing carts, or carrying small boxes.

Students and interns are in the mix of the office work.

"?"

This feeling, something similar to the incident in a certain ally with a certain training.

The feeling of knowing something subconsciously; knowing without learning, just like an idea forming from the strangest places that has no relation to the idea, like in a shower.

Something is directing Ian's attention to.

He can't stop this feeling; it is just pulling his eyes to a student carrying some files.

Immediately he looked at this male student, looks like a high school student wearing his normal attire.

But that is not what his attention is directed at; his attention is at the student's neck.

Well it is just a neck, nothing more to it and Ian would defend his dignity by saying he doesn't have a neck feti- Something is there.

A chocker.

A tan colored chocker that blended in quite well with the student's neck.

If one were to look at a distance, it would be very hard to spot. But once recognized it is easily spotted by the naked eye.

(Why is he wearing a chocker? New fashion sense?)

It is probably some new fashion Ian did not care to bother.

Although he dismisses it, he can't help but spot more and more chokers on the students there.

Male and female, they are wearing the same kind of chocker.

Does Ian Khaw really have a bad sense of fashion? Did he not see the wave of choker fashion being popularized?

He holds his neck, thinking perhaps he should get one and not get left out in this choker take over, better than being cased out.

"Ian, glad to see you paying a visit"

Dr. Steven Connor, still in his lab coat, approaches Ian.

Ian stood up from his seat.

"Hey Steven, hope I wasn't interrupting."

Dr. Connor, equipped with a chart in his left hand, stopped at a talking distance to Ian.

"No, not at all. The research is conducting on schedule. In fact, it is almost time for my break too."

"Ah I see."

"I was informed you were looking for me, how may I be of assistance?"

"Right, you see Isao is absent to school today and when I went to his place, he was not there too. So I thought he might be here and that's why I came."

"Well I can see you know him very well. Yes he is here helping me with my research."

Know him very well? Perhaps it is true, thought Ian, but he is never one to be able to predict a friend's location with a little clue like the business card. Isao did seem like he has his mind set on going with Judgment, so why did Ian think Isao was going to be here? Lucky guess perhaps?

"Oh I see, I guess I was right. Mind if I see him so I can give him a lecture?"

"Haha sure, sure. Let me get him now."

The Doctor places his index and middle finger of his right hand on the base on his neck and spoke. In doing so, Ian spots the same kind of choker on his neck.

"Isao, could you please come here for a moment, you have a 'visitor'."

His right hand pulls away from his neck.

"He'll be here shortly."

"Okay, thanks. Umm… by the way, I noticed there are a lot of student with the same chocker you have on."

Ian's curiosity is voiced out and the Doctor immediately gave Ian his full focus.

"It acts as a transmitter and receiver, and it's designed to blend in."

(So it's like a walkie-talkie.) Ian thought to himself.

"Impressive, you must have quite the eye. Perhaps I can infer that you're quite the marksman?"

"Marksman? Well, I do play a lot of shooting game."

If Ian Khaw was any younger, he would brag about his shooting skills he has got from arcade games. But right now, he knows better not to do so to show a level of maturity.

The Doctor releases his focus on Ian, as if lowering his guard.

"Shooting games? Well that might be the reason for your keen eyes then hahaha."

"Haha, I guess."

Something feels off; just how did he guess Ian as a marksman just by one detail?

Self-Intuitive Manipulation.

That is the answer Ian came up with that made total sense.

"Yo Ian, whassup?"

Kokawa Isao is seen exiting an elevator, waving his hand in the air to get more attention to him.

No differences can be spotted; he is in his usual lively mood.

But contrary to his mental state, his physical state is pretty beat up; almost like he had been tackled by a car going at 40.

Kokawa is semi-fully covered with bandages, some over his uniform. The most obvious ones are on his head and left arm.

In no way is his limb rendered useless, it just looks like it is.

"There you are, why did you disappear like that?"

"Oh I did? Sorry man, did not mean to cause any worries. But it was just a day though, why are you so worried?"

Isao joins the group with Ian and Steven.

Ian points at Isao's bandages.

"Need I explain more?"

"Ah… I see, right, that. Still, it's all good man."

"All good huh? From yesterday's event, you seem like you were about to be barbequed. I was considering getting you a 'get well' gift just incase you end up in the ER."

"Ah haha… well I did go to a doctor."

"And did you know that people who earn their PhD are called 'Doctor' too?"

"Yes, well no. I just learned it when I talked to Steven."

The doctor, with a smile, nodded.

"Well I was quite astonished when Isao came to my office with such terrible physical condition, so I had a private doctor examined and treated him."

A personal doctor for the Doctor, Ian's view on researchers increased 12% for their pay might be good.

"And after he treated me, I decided to stay and help Steven out. My ability really came in handy for the research."

"I see, was the 'Boss' really that frightful?"

"Ah hahahahaha! What do you mean? I mean Judgment was good and all but I felt a calling here so I decided to help out!"

While Isao is trying to hide it, he trembles before the name of the 'Boss'.

"Well she says she's sorry for what's happen and would like to make it up."

"Um… right, I'll be sure to see h-her after I get done with this."

"Right… well it's good to see that you're okay. I'll tell the others that you're okay then."

With a peace of mind, Ian can now go.

"Okay then, I'll see you later man"

"Please do visit again, it can get awfully stale here."

"Alright then, I'll see ya guys later"

Ian breaks off from the 3-man group circle and heads for the exit.

But before he leaves, he takes another look at Isao and Steven.

Again he saw it but this time it is on Isao, the bandages must have obscured its view to Ian but it is clearly shown to him now.

The choker, a.k.a. radio transmitter and receiver is what Ian sees.

Strange, emptiness, uneasiness, something is off and Ian Khaw can't pin point what's wrong.

(I am worrying too much)

And he leaves the premises.

Isao and the doctor is still standing at the same spot, seeing Ian off.

When Ian is off from their view, Isao's cheerful mood quickly disappeared. It is replaced by a face with no expression, almost as if a robot program has taken over.

"You did a good job Isao. Now return to your position and begin the final phase for project 'Cap. Down'."

"Yes sir"

The lifeless Isao walked away, following that order given to him.

The doctor still stood there, looking at where Ian had left his view.

"Shooting games right?"

He turns around and exits the scene.

The floor, still busy with interns and students, went back to being an everyday workspace.

**Part 3**

*kli-kli-klin kli-kli-klin* a security robot zooms past Ian Khaw.

While walking to the 139th, Ian has nothing much to do except preoccupy his mind with past events.

He thought back on the whole scene in the ARC building.

Forgotten something?

Ian wonders what was wrong in there, the feeling of uneasiness he felt back then could not be shaken off.

Everything seemed normal but when the choker is added into the mix, Ian can't help but feel there is something more to it.

"Hmm… perhaps I forgot to show som-"

!

Ian remembered why he went through those lengths to find Isao.

He got his right palm out.

"-I forgot to show Isao my ability. That's why!"

But even after that, it still doesn't explain what was wrong with those chokers.

Were they too small to be walkie-talkies? No, Academy City should be able to create things like that with minimal trouble. Perhaps it's because it blended in so well but what does that to do with anything?

Ponder as he might, Ian just can't seem to get an answer to the choker's fault.

* Lin Lin Lin Lin* a call came which broke Ian away from his thoughts.

He got out his cellular device and look at the contact.

Ian doesn't recognize the number but he connected the call anyway.

"Hello, who is this?"

A quick safety rule for answering an unknown call is to ask for the caller's identity first.

"Hello Khaw-san? It's me, Nakayama."

"Oh, it's you Yuichi. What's up?"

A brief silence passes.

Ian is still waiting for a reply.

"He-"

"Tell me something,"

His tone, unlike his usual friendly to others and sarcastic to the 'Boss' tone, is now serious.

Ian felt the situation that is being given to this tiny cellular device.

"...do you know who Dr. Steven Connor is?"

"Oh you mean that fam-"

"On second thought never mind."

Getting cut off twice for Ian irritated him a little, but due to the sudden situation he doesn't even care for something that little.

"Please, could you drop by to the 139th? I have something to talk to you about."

"Okay, I am on my way there."

"Thank you." *-beep-*

The connection is cut off.

Ian felt he needed to comply with that request.

Is something wrong or did something happen?

The only way Ian can figure this out is when he reaches the 139th.

*Dok dok*

The wooden door to the 139th unlocks.

From the door entered Ian.

He looked around before he entered.

No one's there.

Ian gets into the building and closes the door behind him.

"Where's Yuichi and the 'Boss'?"

The guest ventures in to search for his hosts.

What he did not see is a figure behind him, closing to its victim.

And then…

!

An arm wrapped around his neck and all he did is instinctively grabbed that arm.

"What the?"

Ian Khaw had an arm around his neck but it is not restricting him of his breath.

*Pi-Pi-Piii!*

A moderately high pitched, mechanical device sounded.

That fed more to the struggling victim's confusion.

But just as that beeping ended, he is free from the chokehold.

"Hah?"

He stumbles forward and quickly turned around to take a look at the assailant.

Who might this assaulter be?

Is he big? Is he small? Is he vicious?

It is time to take a look.

And it is…

…Yuichi?

"What the hell?"

Nakayama Yuichi is standing before Ian with a metal detector like device.

"You seem to be clear."

(Clear? What is he talking about? Why did he assault me?)

Ian is on guard for any further harm that might come.

"Dude, what the hell, you scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry Khaw-san, I had to take precautions."

Yuichi walks to his desk and sits the device aside.

Ian is still keeping his guard for any sudden movements.

He knows that Yuichi is a good fighter that can take down a group of thugs with ease.

He readies himself with his amateur stance for pyrokinesis.

Basically he has his right hand out to his right without any fire.

Nakayama wonders what Ian is doing with his right arm out.

A battle stance?

Whatever the reason is, Yuichi plans to explain to Ian the current situation.

Yuichi sits on his chair.

"Please take a seat Khaw-san, I'll explain everything to you."

After being attacked, he is asked to sit down? Under different circumstances, Ian might run but he did release him from the choke so it should be alright.

Ian goes to the sofa placed in the middle of the room and sit.

"So, why did you call me here?"

"I saw you from a surveillance camera as you exited the Ability Research Center. It's about Dr. Connor, the man who you thought you knew."

Ian sat up straight.

"Why, is there something I am not seeing?"

"Yes, Dr. Connor is not the man he portrays himself to be."

"You mean he really doesn't have an ability?"

"No, he is not the kind hearted researcher everyone has come to know. Truth is he is much darker."

Yuichi pulled a file from his desk and placed it in front of Ian, at the coffee table.

On the file is titled 'C-Files'.

"In these files, we of the 139th have kept a good watch on him for 3 months now."

Ian stared at the file for a brief moment and proceeded in turning the front page.

What he sees are photographs of students, their biography, and records, along with a few pictures of facilities.

He wonders if these are the right files.

!

He remembers the faces seen on the photographs; they are the faces of those students in the ARC building, where Dr. Connor works.

"So far, all we know of him is that he kidnaps students with abilities level 2 or higher."

Ian immediately stared at Yuichi in an 'I can't believe it' kind of manner.

"He… kidnaps them?"

"Yes, to be more precise he removed them from existence."

Vanishing, disappearing, or maybe murder?

Uneasy thoughts are going through his mind

"How does he do that?"

"He simply removes them from all records, slowly but gradually, until their birth record on this planet does not exist anymore."

"Disappear…" Ian uttered.

They disappeared right? But Ian just saw them in the building.

"But these photographs, I saw these people awhile ago in the research center."

"Do they have a kind of choker on them?"

Choker, that piece of fabric that kept bugging Ian.

"Yeah, strangely enough, all of them have the same kind of choker. Even Steven is wearing it."

"Steven? Oh, his name. Yes, that choker is part of the reason for their decaying existence. It controls their thoughts."

(Thoughts..?)

"You mean mind control?"

"Yes with their will sealed away, he controls them to stay hidden until all their records are erased."

Is that really possible? Is mind control already achieved?

"To prevent their records from disappearing, we kept their records in the C-file."

He looks at the opened C-files on the coffee table which made Ian to do so too.

"If we finally get Dr. Connor, these records will be there for the victims."

"I see, that's why there is so much information on these students."

Their eyes are off the files and staring at each other.

It makes sense that kidnapping to a degree like that is evil, but it begs one question.

Why?

"But why? Why does he kidnap students? Why does he keep them?"

"It's simple, let me ask you this, what is Dr. Steven Connor famous for?"

"Well for his re- !"

The pieces are coming together.

Ian remembers his past meetings with the doctor.

He needs Isao's ability, he said it would help him a lot.

"…research."

"Yes, he uses the students with abilities for his research. But that is not the worst of it, he sees the students as gunnies pigs; disposable subjects."

All these information is giving Ian a hard time, and now the thought of disposable human beings?

Unbelievable.

"Human… experimentation?"

It is unbelievable… but it all connects once again.

Ian remembers the meeting Steven held in Seventh Mist about espers and their levels.

He remembers Steven talking about the human body in comparison to abilities at a very detailed degree.

(What has this world come to? What has science come to?)

"So, if what you're saying is true… then Isao-"

"Is currently in Dr. Connor's hands."

"T-then, why are you guys not doing anything? You're Judgment and if you need help, Antiskill will give you a hand!"

"We can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"It's simple, SIM."

SIM, the ability to control self intuition, Ian knows all too well what it is capable of now.

"Dr. Connor is good at what he does; we have no evidence against him to call for an arrest. The information in the file there has more information on his captures than himself. We tried to get Intel on him in other branches, but what we got was little to nothing. If we charge in without proof, he'll just be defended by Judgment and Antiskill."

"But that's…"

He could not answer back

Ian leans back on the sofa.

Usually events like these happen in movies but Ian Khaw now finds himself faced with a real one.

Can he believe it?

Is this real?

Being presented with this much information, Ian can't help but find this all true.

It sounds like a load of crap but something is telling him it's the truth.

A gut feeling similar to when he felt something was wrong with the choker.

No reason not to believe him, but something still bothered Ian.

Ian sat up straight again.

"Alright if what you say is true, why are you explaining all this to me? I am just a civilian."

"Because I believe you deserve to know the truth and…"

Nakayama Yuichi turns his head to his desk, looking at the device that looks like a metal detector.

And? And what? Even though it is a brief period of silence, Ian needs to know and probably the sooner the better.

Yuichi turns back to Ian.

"…I believe you can help us."

"Help? But you just said it yourself, you saw me getting out of ARC. How do you know I am not controlled by Dr. Connor?"

"Because I've already tested you with this."

Yuichi picks up the metal detector like device for Ian to see.

"This is a radio receiver designed to detect any anomalies in the subject's brain. Earlier I tested it on you to be sure you weren't controlled by Dr. Connor. If you were, then I would have knocked you out to get a better look at the mind controlling device."

He looks at that piece of plastic and back at Yuichi.

"Is that why you attacked me?"

"Yes, that and because I can't guarantee you running away the moment I show you the detector."

Ian sighs in a somewhat irritated manner and scratches his head.

It was a reasonable action but also an action that made Ian a little ticked off.

"So… you were saying something about me helping out, what should I do?"

"I don't know yet but surely we can use you to get some information out of Dr. Connor. He doesn't have a reason to suspect you."

Ian nodded in acknowledgement.

"But, we'll need to thread carefully."

"Well isn't that a given?" asked the helper-to-be.

"3 months ago, we were given this case just like every other case. Naturally, we went to apprehend the culprit but that's where things went wrong. We did not plan enough and to Dr. Connor's advantage, he managed to keep us from pursuing him and nearly got both of us removed from Judgment."

"How did he do that?"

"By erasing all evidence, our accusation meant nothing. We can't take it lightly anymore, the planning needs to outwit Dr. Connor in order to get him."

"I see… outwitting the SIM will be no easy task. Hmm… I can't think of anything yet."

Yuichi nodded and said, "It's best if we wait for the 'Boss' to return to form a plan."

Even though it is obvious she is out, at least now Ian knows for certain she's out.

The 'Boss' doesn't seem like a character that will stay at a spot for 2 seconds.

Impulsive is a good definition to the 'Boss'.

This gives Ian a thought that maybe having the 'Boss' as part of the plan might be the reason for its demise.

Yuichi knows what Ian is thinking, almost as if he read Ian mind.

"I understand that look."

"Hah?"

"The 'Boss' is spontaneous but she is certainly not the reason for the failure. Our plan only went that far since we are restricted by the laws."

"I see."

Ian Khaw gave the 'Boss' too little credit.

It is because she acts too much like Kokawa Isao.

Kokawa Isao.

The name now has a new reason; a reason to save and to take down that mad man.

Ian wonders if he really can do something to save Isao.

Maybe he is the little push Yuichi and the 'Boss' needed to take down Dr. Connor.

Or maybe his presence will make no difference.

He doesn't know.

Ian turned to his digital watch for the time.

3:57 PM

(Dr. Connor is a man who uses other people as gunnies pigs so we must take him down, but how? Yuichi and the 'Boss' can't do it on their own so how is adding me into the mix going to- !)

Ian immediately switches his view from his watch to Nakayama.

All Yuichi can do is wonder what is going on.

"Wait, you said he kidnaps espers whose abilities are level 2 or higher right?"

"Yes,"

"And they are for his 'research' right?"

"Yes,"

"So that would mean he has an interest in abilities right?"

"That would be the logical conclusion."

Ian is close to an answer and for every yes he got, his hope increases.

The hope raised guy stood up from the couch.

"So what if he is shown a level zero that has gained an ability and jumped 2 levels in a short amount of time?"

"Huh? Well that would be something interesting since it is rare."

That's it, the plan.

It might actually work but Ian knows showing an ability at a level after 1 seem like a far stretch.

But ever since he got his ability, he has been able to control it well.

He might just pull it off and if it fails, the concept of gaining an ability and controlling it that well in a short amount of time would still be interesting.

"Yes, that's it then! I believe we have our plan!"

Nakayama Yuichi, still on his chair, leaned forward.

"You mean you actually know someone of those standards?"

Ian looks at Yuichi with a smile and a hint of smirk.

"No, actually it is the other way around."

Confused, Yuichi thought Ian is losing his mind a little.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Ian placed his right arm out…

*Fwhom*

… And conjured a ball of fire the size of a golf ball.

Yuichi stared surprised.

He knows Ian is a level 0 because before Ian and Isao came to the 139th, he had already checked both their files.

That is pyrokinesis!

*DAG!*

"Huh?"

Both Ian and Nakayama turned to the source of that bang.

The door is wide open.

In the entrance stood a woman in sports uniform with a bag of food supplies.

Her right hand is on the door and her left is holding the surplus.

"I'm Back~!" shouted the lady in blue.

The two guys are still a little bummed out from the noise generated when door meets wall at high speed.

She takes 2 steps in…

"So I bought som-"

… And stops when she sees Ian and Nakayama.

But her attention is more directed at Ian and his little combusted pet.

Her expression started from a surprised look that slowly grew a big smile.

"THERE IT IS!"

She charges at Ian, dropping the bag of lunch.

Ian had no where to run; both his sides are blocked by a couch and a coffee table, forward is impending doom, and his back is blocked by a wall.

So all he could do is stand at his spot in shock, fear, and helplessness altogether.

"HAH?"

"YOU CAN'T GET AWAY NOW!"

She leaps towards Ian, arms wide. A chance she can't miss and must get.

He crosses his arms in front of his face, cowering against the charging lady.

"GYYYYAAAAHHH!"

**Part 4**

In a clean office decorated with hanging degrees and awards, Dr. Connor is finishing up on his research.

*kata-kata-kata-kata-kata-kata- - - tikik-tikik*

Sitting in his desk with a computer on, he leans back.

"That should do, I'll leave the rest for that bitch to figure out."

*Tok tok tok*

A student entered with a file in her hands and stood at the door.

Dr. Connor took a glance at her then back at his sleek monitor.

She approaches Dr. Connor's table and sets it down.

Both Dr. Connor and that student stared for a moment and the student nodded.

It is almost as she understood something from Dr. Connor and acknowledges it.

The student picks up a few items from his desk.

A microchip, two files, and an empty coffee cup.

She then leaves the room.

The doctor snickered.

"I am always amazed at what I can do."

He looks at his waist.

There is a small device the size of a cell phone attached to his belt.

A green light is lit on it, blinking occasionally.

"…heh, mental manipulation to full physical manipulation…"

He directed his attention to his computer.

On the screen, he drags the files named 'Capacity ' and 'CD ' to a blank area on the desktop.

A black window opened and codes started rushing from the bottom of the window to the edge at the top, filling the window with code keys.

Just as fast as it started, it stopped with the word 'SEND' on bottom of the window.

Then it closes.

The doctor got up from his chair and stretches his back a little.

Several bone popping noise followed.

He looks at a file on his desk, a report to be precise, labeled C. Down.

Without much care for it, he picks it up and tears it in half.

A machine by the name of 'Dai-Ichi Co., Shredder' is placed within the doctor's reach.

The doctor tosses the remains of his work in the 'Shredder'.

*RRRRRRRRRRRRR- RRRRRRRR-* reacted the machine.

What is left of the file is now turned into fine powder stored in a container built on the side of the 'Shredder'.

Dr. Steven Connor got back on his chair and back to his computer.

On the screen, he pulls out a window.

On it, a picture of Ian is at the top left of the window.

It displayed curricular information recorded from Ian and the most bold and largest text on the window stated 'Level 0'.

"Hmm… level 0 it states. Heh-hahaha."

*GUNG!*

"WHAT? YOU MEAN SAO-BOY IS CAPTURED?"

Back at the 139th, Nakayama, Ian, and the 'Boss' have settled around the coffee table.

Yuichi is seated at his designated chair near his designated desk, Ian and the 'Boss' are seated on the couch.

The 'Boss' has her left fist on the coffee table, the aftermath of letting out her anger on the piece of furniture.

Ian Khaw keeps a distance away from the 'Boss' as much as possible since he could not get out of that tight spot.

"Yes, I saw it from the surveillance camera placed right at the entrance of the ARC building. Khaw-san confirmed it too, along with the 'choker' on his neck."

"Is that right?"

The 'Boss' turns to Ian.

"But are you sure he is not controlled by that psycho with some new tech?"

She gets closer to Ian, her face with a sinister look and her left hand up, fingers twitching, ready to light something on fire.

"Or perhaps he is some robot created to infiltrate our beloved branch?"

Ian is already pushed up against the wall by the approaching 'Wall of Fire'.

He can't do anything except stare at her dark side with building fear.

"Ah-a-ah… I am pretty sure I am human."

"Like I said, I've already tested him. He is clear. Besides, his record shows that he is a level 0, a least likely target for Dr. Connor."

"Hmm… I guess you're right."

She lowers her left arm and pulls back from Ian.

Ian sighed in relief with his head down and sat naturally again; not against the wall.

"But it is still suspicious, if he is not working for that bastard then why doesn't he want to join Judgment? Very suspicious…"

Her attention is back at Ian with her left arm partially raised.

Ian's head immediately turned to the 'Boss', sensing danger from her.

"Actually it would be the opposite; if he is working for Dr. Connor then joining our branch would serve his purpose under the doctor. He could have spied on us. In addition, why would Dr. Connor only target us? There are plenty of other branches and even Antiskill targeting him so why not one of them?"

She drops her arm and turned to the other way with a sour look.

"Hmph! Guess you have a point."

Perhaps one could infer she wants to burn something, and that something could be anything she lays her eyes on.

Ian tries to be part of the conversation as they still have a friend to save and a doctor to take down.

And he said "So about Dr. Connor…"

She then turned back to Yuichi.

"Gah! That stupid freak! That's why I hate doctors!"

"Boss, I believe your father is a doctor."

Her cheeks redden but her pride is still high.

This indicates what Yuichi said is true; her father is an accomplished doctor.

But the 'Boss' doesn't admit it and-

"So about the doctor,"

-turns to Ian and ignored Nakayama's last comment.

"how are we going to take him down this time?"

"Well I thought of something that might be able to trick Dr. Connor."

"So why didn't ya tell us yet? Come on, spill it." The boss demanded.

"Well that's because I was about to be attacked by a pyromaniac, but yes, I'll explain. Say, how did you feel when you saw me doing this?"

Ian lifts his right hand up and focuses. A few seconds later a small flame ignited above his palm.

"Well I thought you were lying about being a level 0, and I wanted to force you to join our branch."

The 'Boss' is glaring at Ian with full, tyrannical force.

Ian is shaken up a little.

"Ahem, anyway, the reason why you felt like that is because you thought I am a level 0 right? So imagine how Dr. Connor will react when he sees me doing this."

The 'Boss' holds her chin with her left hand, thinking.

"I see where you are getting with this," said Yuichi, "you said showing a degree of increase in a short amount of time is an interesting concept."

Yuichi stares at Ian's special ability.

"But your current level is no doubt, still a level 1."

"Yeah you're right, but I think I am getting the hang of this and it only took me 3 hours of practice."

The flame dwindles until it disappeared, and Ian lowered his left hand.

"I suppose you did well in that amount time of practice, but the plan wouldn't work if you don't show a higher degree. Speaking of the plan, what is it actually that you had in mind?"

Ian crossed his arms and looked diagonally up, in his 'thinking while talking' pose.

"Hmm… well what I had in mind was to have me as bait to gather evidence against Dr. Connor, and with that evidence, you should be able to take him down right?"

Ian looks back at Yuichi.

"I see, so you wanted to get captured just so you can gather evidence. That's not a bad idea, and Dr. Connor shouldn't suspect you since you've been here just for two days."

*Snap!* the 'Boss' signaling she gets the plan.

"Ohhh! I get it now, so when you're captured you can record something with audio or video right?"

"Yeah, and with that you can take down Dr. Connor."

"Woooo Yeah! I like that plan!"

The 'Boss' grinned while rubbing her chin, picturing how well the plan will go.

But both Ian and Yuichi knew what's wrong with that plan.

"Not to ruin your fantasy 'Boss' but there's a problem with Khaw-san's plan"

"Heh?"

The 'Boss' looks at Yuichi with a questioned expression.

"Khaw-san, if you would please, show us your ability once more."

Ian already knows the reason for that request and lifts his right hand up.

He focuses, and then…

*Fwhoom*

A small fireball is conjured.

"For that plan to work, Khaw-san needs to be at least level 2 or higher."

The new born pyro sighed.

"Well I guess it is back to the drawing board."

"Heh heh heh heh…"

A sinister laugh passed through both the guys' ears.

They turned their look towards the 'Boss'.

"Say, Khaw-boy.. how long did you say you practiced for..? 3 hours was it…? Heh heh heh…"

Yuichi caught on to what the 'Boss' is thinking and lowers his head in a sigh.

Ian looked at Yuichi as he sighed. Moments later he realized what's on her mind.

"Y-you don't mean…?"

The 'Boss', now arms crossed, stood up and faced Ian.

"Heh heh heh, if your level is too low then we can fix it… by training with me!"

Ian looked at the 'Boss' with his mouth half-closed, and the fire at his palm slowly diminishing until it is gone, and then he turns his head to Yuichi.

Yuichi sighed and exclaimed, "Good grief…"

That did not give Ian any comforting at all; it looks like being trained is inevitable.

He knows how harsh training can be with the 'Boss' because he has seen it first hand. If Ian wanted to stop this now, he knows he must speak up or forever hold his peace.

"A… wait, hold on wait! Train me? I mean if I am to train, it would take too long until I reach level 2. Plus, time is something we don't have to spare, who knows we might lose Isao the next day!"

The 'Boss' sits down with her arms still crossed, staring at Ian with the same smile.

"I understand that we're pressed for time now that our boy is taken, but if you think about it, this is the fastest way to do it."

Isao's position made Ian thought back on how this talk is not about forcing Ian to train with the 'Boss', but saving a friend.

He regains his composure and started to take things seriously again.

"If you can manage a fireball like that in 3 hours, if you train with me for the next 3, I'll betcha you'll be showing your skills higher than a level 1, what do you say?"

The 'Boss' beams at Ian with her grin.

Ian looks at the boss and slowly started smiling and nodding his head.

"Alright, I'll do it."

"That's my boy!"

The 'Boss' taps Ian's left shoulder and Ian raised his right fist, shaking it in agreement.

"Please don't put Khaw-san on a hospital bed 'Boss'."

The 'Boss' stood up from the couch and gave Yuichi the thumbs up.

"Don't worry about it, I'll make sure he gets the best, safest, training I can give!"

She turns to Ian.

"Ready?"

Ian stood from the couch.

"Yes ma'am!"

Yuichi joined the standing group.

"I'll go as well, I'll keep an eye on you so that you don't go overboard."

"Alright then! We have 3 hours to get this kid to a higher level!"

The 'Boss' rushed to the door first. This made Ian follow her by running too. Then Yuichi followed last by casually walking out of the branch.

And the door shuts.

**Part 5**

In the same office decorated with awards, Dr. Connor is still on his computer.

Though instead of doing anything with the computer, he simply just stares at the monitor.

The wall clock opposite to his desk points to 7:12 PM.

*Dok dok*

The door to his office opens and there entered a male student.

"Sir, all valuable research is packed and ready to go, you may leave to your next destination."

The doctor looks away from his monitor to see the student.

"Good, but I have no intentions of leaving yet. Just a little bit more time and we'll take our leave."

"Sir."

The student exits the office.

And the doctor went back observing his monitor.

Orange glows from the monitor can be seen bouncing off of Dr. Connor.

His glasses reflected orange light bursts from the monitor.

And not a single blink is taken by the doctor.

Back behind the alley where Isao and the 'Boss' trained the day before, Ian is supporting his tired self by holding his knees.

"Ha… ha… ha…"

The 'Boss' and Yuichi are about a few meters behind Ian. Yuichi is leaning on the wall while the 'Boss' stood with her arms crossed.

Of course, she is always smiling.

They are all looking at a brick wall, about their height and 2 meters in length, in front of them.

The wall is built for Ian to train with which is the reason why the wall is currently burnt black.

"Ok now I want you to make a fireball and throw it at the middle of that wall, asap!"

Ian's right arm moves away from his body, halfway, with his hand opening downwards.

Lines of orange glows in a spiral inward to his right palm.

"FwhooOM!*

In just a second a fireball the size of a baseball, slightly bigger, conjured above his palm, beneath his hand.

And with a swing similar to a haymaker or a pitch by a baseball player, he hurls the flaming ball towards the wall opposite of him.

*DSSsssssSSHHhhh…*

A direct hit to the middle of the charcoal wall.

"Ha… ha… ha…"

There are still traces of flame lingering around the wall.

The 'Boss' lifts up and slowly lowers her left hand.

Simultaneously, all the lingering flame shrunk to nothing but smoke.

"Good job! You don't have quite the firepower to blow the wall away yet but you sure do have control over it! Who knows? You might just be able to melt iron."

Ian is back to supporting his torso by placing his weight to his knees.

"Ha… haha… if I try hard enough I can… ha… man I need a drink…"

He stood back up, letting his tired leg support his tired self, and turns around.

Yuichi tosses a bottle of water at Ian and Ian grabs it with both hands. Then the tired trainee takes big gulps from the bottle.

"Well 'Boss', think this is enough?"

"Yup, that's about level 2 I'd say, and it only took him 3 hours! Man I want him in our branch!"

She is even happier than before she saw Ian with his new found ability, and her face shows it.

"Bah..!"

Ian drank the whole bottle empty and holds the bottle until he finds a trash can or a cleaning robot.

"It is surprising that Khaw-san has gained that much control in just 3 hours. Maybe he has a talent for pyrokinesis?"

"Nah, it's because of my training that made him good, but who cares? Now we can go with the plan!"

The 'Boss' gave Yuichi a grin and a thumbs up.

After a drink and a short rest, Ian gains back his energy as he is no longer exhausted.

He walks towards the 'Boss' and Yuichi.

And before he could say his thanks, the boss pulled him by his neck to her side that looks similar to a single arm lock.

"Whoa!"

There is no force in that lock so he is tilts his upper body while standing. Then she moves a step closer to Yuichi.

"This boy is ready to go with the moves I taught him! He can be the guy doing the long range fires!"

"Well before I can do that, I need to be the guy who is bait for the doctor."

She removes her lock and taps him on his shoulder.

"Good! Straight to the point! A good trait to be in the 139th!"

Ian just smiles to her, providing no words but it is clear his answer is 'no'.

"Alright so to go over the plan, first I will go into ARC and get myself captured. Then when the information is taken, I will somehow call you guys to come get me, right?"

"Yes" responded the male Judgment member

Yuichi pulls out a recording device from his pocket.

He passes it to Ian.

"This is a mini-cassette recorder. It has 2 hours of recording time, enough to start the recorder when entering the building and out. Keep this in your pocket."

Ian takes it and wonders.

"Why a recorder? Shouldn't it be better if we used some kind of radio transmitter?"

"No, Dr. Connor would know if we used anything of that standard because he is already working with radio waves. If a foreign radio wave is detected in his building then we're busted."

Ian puts the recorder in his pocket.

"I see, but then how will I be able to call you guys when I get the information?"

Yuichi pulls out another device, this time it is a small remote with one button.

"This is what you'll use when it's time to call us. Just push that button and we'll know. When activated it'll send a burst of radio waves, so it won't be detected."

He passes it to Ian and Ian takes it.

"Okay then, this seems simple enough. Let's go to the 10th district then!" exclaimed the 'Boss'.

7:33 PM.

District 10.

Ian, Yuichi, and the 'Boss' are hiding 2 buildings away from ARC, in the alley.

They have arrived there 5 minutes earlier and are currently going through the plan once more.

"…and then we'll come in, guns blazing, to get you. Any questions?" asked the 'Boss'.

Yuichi raised his hand.

"Yes, one question. Would you mind not burning the roof down on us while we're in?"

"Hahaha it's just an expression!"

The 'Boss' laughs it off but Yuichi does not believe her.

"Fuu… ok, I am ready."

The 'Boss' gives a thumbs up and winks at Ian.

"Good luck kid!"

Yuichi nodded at Ian.

"Remember, you're there to show Isao your ability, and make sure Dr. Connor is with you too. If the situation there goes south, just push the button and we'll charge in."

Ian nods while saying, "Right."

"Good luck out there."

Ian takes 2 steps out and…

"Oh wait!"

…the 'Boss' stops him.

"What's the matter?"

The 'Boss' goes up to him and said, "Your collar is all crooked."

She inches her head closer to Ian's and started adjusting his neck collar.

He blushes in embarrassment since no one other than his mother has corrected his outfit before, and usually it is weird for an acquaintance to fix something personal. In addition to that, her face is very close to Ian's.

"There you go, better now."

Ian nods and thanks the 'Boss', and he walks out of the alley headed towards the ARC building.

He takes a look around the environment.

The sun is already down, but street lights and some escaping light from buildings illuminate the area. The streets are occupied by a number of workers and some students. Everyone there is either going back home or going to dinner, maybe some other activities for a few others. Cars come and go in an average of 2 per minute.

The 'bait' is now in front of the ARC building. People can be seen going out of the building and the building is not as crowded as it was in the afternoon.

He put his hand in his pocket and starts the recording, and then he enters the building.

*Vvvvssshh…* a very light sound generated by the automatic sliding doors.

He looks around in the building and notices the receptionist is not there. Probably gone back home.

Originally his plan was to ask the receptionist where Dr. Connor's office is, but now he'll have to think of another way.

On his right, he sees someone walking out of the hall.

This person is a man, slightly taller than Ian, fairly spiky blond hair, blue eyes, rectangular shaped bifocals, a goatee, and a white lab coat.

He recognizes this person as Dr. Connor.

"Oh, Hey Steven!" called Ian while having his right hand up.

The doctor notices him and returns his regards.

"Hey Ian, how are you. What brings you here at this hour?"

Both the doctor and Ian moved closer to talking distance.

"Ah… well I was looking for Isao but he wasn't home yet, so I thought he might still be here."

"How right you are, Isao currently is at this facility and he is preparing to leave I believe."

Sarcasm plays in Ian's mind. He is thinking when Isao will really leave.

"I see, mind if I see him now? I want to show him something."

"Yes, of course you can. Just follow me."

The doctor leads Ian to the elevator and they went to the first floor. A few meters away, they reached a fairly decent size room, enough to fit 20 people comfortably.

The room had a few tables in the middle, and desks close to the walls.

In the middle of the room, Isao is packing papers into a folder.

He notices the entry of Dr. Connor and Ian.

"Hey Doc- Oh hey Ian, what are you doing here?"

The doctor and Ian walks to Isao to a talking distance.

Ian notices Dr. Connor is still with him and it is going according to plan.

"Hey man, I forgot to show you something earlier."

"Really? What is it?"

"Alright, I just need you guys to stand back."

Both the doctor and Isao took 2 steps back.

Ian opens his right palm in front of himself and made a ball of fire in a second.

Both the doctor and Isao looks surprised.

"Whoa! Since when did you learn how to do that?"

"Yes, I thought you were a level 0."

Even though this is all just an act, Ian smiles with pride.

"I've discovered I had pyrokinesis 3 days ago. So to surprise everyone, I wanted to get better at it then show it off. What do you think? Pretty good huh?"

"Cool! Awesome man!"

The doctor takes a closer look at Ian's fireball.

"The flame you've conjured up is at level 2. Indeed this is fascinating, and it only took you 3 days you say?"

"Yeah!"

Ian clamps his right hand and the fire goes out.

"Sweet, now you're no longer the level 0 genius! From now on, we can be the level 2 gang!" said Isao with his fist up in the air and a big smile on his face.

The doctor grins, his nature turns a little wicked and dark.

"Say Ian, how do you propose on helping me in a research?"

Right after the doctor's sentence and before Ian even had a chance to speak, a pair of arms came right behind Ian and grabbed him.

!

The grip is tight, the unknown arms wrapped around Ian.

Ian looks back and he sees someone behind him, can't really see his face but this person has Ian's arms down. By the edge of his vision, he sees the choker on the person's neck.

(When did this guy came in?)

Before Ian can think of an answer, the door that Ian and the doctor came in opens.

There enters 9 students, each equipped with the accursed collar.

Now Ian notices that everyone of the student had a cell phone like pack on the right side of their hip.

Perhaps that is the transmitter and receiver to the choker, Ian thought.

7 of the students stood behind Dr. Connor and 2 went to Ian's sides.

Isao followed the 7 and stood behind the doctor too.

His expression? Not there. No signs of emotions at all.

This did not come out the way like planned, but he could still reach for the remote in his pocket. So all's not lost yet, he still has a chance to get some information from the doctor.

"What is this? What is going on?"

"Oh you need not to worry Ian, all you'll do is take part in a little 'research'."

The doctor raises his right hand to his side with his palm open.

One of the students behind him placed a cell phone sized machine wrapped around with fabric and at the end of the tape is a round collar, which looks very much like the choker on his palm.

The doctor uncoils the roll by letting gravity do all the work; like a yoyo going down.

This device, now uncoiled, has 2 round collar, a big one and a small one. The cell phone like device is attached to the larger collar. Both the collars are attached to a single tape of fabric, and in the middle of the fabric ran 30 needles in a line, parallel to the fabric in length, perpendicular in width.

"Is that…?"

"This here is a device used to take full authorization of an individual's neural network, I suppose you understand what that means right?"

So far so good, Ian is getting what he needs from the doctor.

"You mean… mind control?"

"Precisely," the doctor points to the needles on the contraption, "these needles are attached to one's spine and it will send small charges enough to influence the brain, and this," he points to the cell phone like device, "is the receiver which receives order from the admin, me."

The doctor is really into explaining how his gadget works, unafraid of speaking too much and enjoying himself meanwhile.

Ian almost feels overjoyed that the doctor explained the 'choker' with that much detail.

He tries to contain his smile by acting serious, but truth be told he is laughing inside.

"So that means… everyone in this room has one of those things? They are under your control? Why are you doing this?"

The doctor passes the device back to one of the students behind him.

He places both his hands in his coat pockets and moves closer to the apprehended Ian.

"Ha ha ha… why you ask? Because of science! Science is knowledge and knowledge is power."

Ian's laughing mood earlier is replaced by seriousness.

The doctor presents the students with his right hand, taking a few side steps to show Ian every one of the students behind him.

"See those students? They are the key to my success. They are valuable experimental subjects… and they too make decent bodyguards."

The doctor gets back in front of Ian.

"And can you imagine a squad, a troop, a battalion, an army of espers? Soldiers with unique supernatural abilities, capable of taking down any mission, eliminating every threat, all right at my disposal. Soon I'll be one of the most powerful man on this rock."

He turns to look back at the students.

"But don't worry, I am not aiming for world domination. I simply need more authorization, that is all.."

"Authorization…?"

Dr. Connor turns back at Ian.

"Yes, the authorization for complete liberty to research, to study, to experiment, to learn."

The complete liberty to do anything he wants basically, thought Ian.

Ian finally saw this man's true nature and he sees this doctor as an evil, mad man.

"You bastard." is all Ian could say.

The doctor smiles and turns back and walk towards the row of students.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to make good use of you to the best of your abilities. Who knows, maybe I'll find out the reason for the speedy ability boost."

Ian felt a greater urge to take this guy down. If he can, he would attack the doctor now but he is currently outnumbered. The plan is the only way now, this few minutes of talking has given Judgment and Antiskill incriminating evidence against the doctor. All Ian has to do is call Yuichi and the 'Boss' and it will all be over soon. The best part is the doctor gave it all away just because he let his guard down. He was…

"I was played like a fool aren't I?"

"Huh? W-"

Before Ian's next words, the students beside Ian swiftly went into his pockets and retrieved the recorder and remote.

Each of them with one item. Both stared at it.

The recorder imploded on the student's hand and the remote fried from the inside.

"Hey? What the!"

It happen too fast, just like that Ian has lost both the remote and recorder. Only shock remains with him.

"Sent Ian to Dr. Connor and show Dr. Connor his new found ability which he learned in 3 days, or should I say 3 hours?"

!

Another shocking move made by the doctor.

The doctor faces the wall on Ian's left and started walking towards it.

"When captured, have Dr. Connor expose the truth about himself."

When he reaches a meter away from the left wall, he turns around and starts walking to the opposite wall.

"Then using this cassette recorder, we will finally have incriminating evidence against the evil, damned, Dr. Connor."

The doctor walks midway and stop, right in front of Ian.

Throughout the doctor's talk, Ian just had a look of disbelief, trying to think but couldn't for every word of the exposed plan rendered Ian speechless, or in this case thoughtless.

"How did- How did you know..?"

The doctor turns his head to his right, facing Ian. Then he turns completely, facing Ian.

"If you want to know, I keep a good eye on the new people I meet and the officials that tried to stop me. It just so happens that the person I kept my eye on happens to know one of the officials that tried to apprehend me."

The shocked boy thought of the person as him and the official as the 139th.

"Yes, I know all about the 139th branch of Judgment. They came here a few months ago and caused quite the ruckus, but they never caught me. So just as a precaution, I've set bugs and hidden cameras within the 139th. It is simply self-explanatory from there."

Ian Khaw now knew how his plan with the 139th was discovered; Dr. Connor was watching all the time.

"Damn it." exclaimed Ian while looking down on the floor.

The doctor smiles, delighted in Ian and the 139th's failure.

"Truth be told, I had initially wanted Isao for a single research. Who knew I would get an esper who is able to progress at such rates at the same time. I am glad I waited a little longer before I leave."

Leave? That word poses another question to Ian. Leave where?

"Leave?" he raises his head up to see the doctor.

The doctor goes to a desk near him and pick up the file Isao was keeping earlier.

"Yes, I am leaving Academy City for a period of time. Things have been quite unsettling around the past weeks. Once the situation is settled, I'll be back. But to be honest, I've already gotten more than enough espers."

He picks up the file and looks into it.

"You'll be the 118th specimen."

(One hundred and eighteen? He has gotten that many?)

The doctor is looking at a page with Ian's picture on it.

He closes the file and moves back, in front of the row of students.

With a finger motion, he points at the student with the 'choker' and then Ian.

The student moves towards Ian with the choker in one hand and a needle in the other.

Dr. Connor turns to the row of student, looking through the file in hand.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt, much. Soon it will all be over."

Ian is panicking now, he struggles to get himself free.

His hands are still free so he creates 2 fireballs.

"Haa..!"

*SSSSsssss*

"What the?"

Just before Ian could launch an attack, his flames were doused.

The student on his left had both index fingers pointing at Ian's palm.

"Don't even bother, Kaname will just create water from the air to extinguish whatever fire you have."

Crap!

Ian is really at the end of the line now.

The needle gets closer, two meters, one and a half meters, one meter…!

The needle is approaching from Ian's left side.

Helpless, all he could do is lower his head to his right, closing his left eye completely and partially open with his right.

This is it?

Is this the end?

There is nothing else I can do!

No! Somebody please help me!

He wants to call out for help, whoever it is but he can't since the needle is approaching his neck.

At the right edge of his vision, a dark orb slowly inches from his right to left, forward, passing right in front of his face, going to the middle of the room.

He quickly realizes what is going to happen and shuts his eyes as tightly as his eye muscles could possibly can.

All the students are looking at the orb, and the student who had the needle stopped right at his tracks.

"Hmm…?" the doctor turns his head and notices the dark orb.

"That's!-"

Before he could react, a bright light from the dark orb starts to engulf the whole room.

*PIIIIIII!*

"Gaaahh!" the doctor whaled.

*Thud, thud, thom, tak* the sound of some bodies dropping to either their knees or hands.

Ian felt the grip on his arms released and he is free to move.

He still had his eyes shut tight but slowly he opens them.

In the room now, everyone is on the ground one way or another. Ian is the only one standing.

The recorder is lost so there is nothing else to do but save himself.

"Don't let him escape!" said Dr. Connor, while closing his eyes with one hand and swinging the other, trying to give an order.

Ian quickly ran right out of the room, headed straight to the emergency exit.

The flight of stairs are not touched by Ian as he leaps forward, passing all the steps in one jump. Then repeat with the next.

He dashed to the entrance.

The automatic door slides open just enough for Ian to run pass through.

He reaches the alley where Yuichi and the 'Boss' is hiding.

The 'Boss' had her arms crossed and is leaning on the wall, looking up at the sky.

Both of them noticed the sprinting guy.

"He's back!" said the 'Boss'

He stops right in front of them, panting.

"Haa.. ha… haa…!"

He goes up to the wall with one arm on it, trying to catch his breath.

"So how did it go? You didn't need us after all did ya?" said the 'boss' with a grin.

"We… haa… can't stay here…! haa… ha…"

Yuichi senses the danger of the situation and moves closer to Ian.

"What happened? Did the plan fail?"

Nanako's grin disappears and now she appears to be more concern of the current situation.

"We need… ha… to find a place where there's little surveillance.. ha… now..!"

Ian starts running out.

"Hey wait! Argh!" the 'Boss' follows.

Yuichi had no choice but to follow after them, he figures Ian will debrief the situation to them later, and the three of them ran into the darkness of the streets.

**Part 6**

Back in district 7, in the park where people enjoy their leisure and the same park where the doctor treated Ian with a burger, is a quite place after dusk.

Three people disrupted the peace as they charged in, hiding behind one of the many trees in the park.

Nanako, Yuichi, and Ian are the ones hiding.

"Okay, this spot has no cameras on us, a blind spot."

The 'Boss' reassured Ian.

"Now would you tell me why we had to run all the way back to the seventh, boy?"

Ian is still trying to catch his breath. He looks at the other two, still fine and not exhausted.

How much cardio do they have he wondered.

"haa.. no good... haa... he's been watching us all the time.. ha.."

Ian explained the whole story to the 'Boss' and Yuichi, from how the doctor has been watching them to how he almost got caught.

Both the members of the 139th are shocked, and who can blame them since they took extra caution when it comes to the doctor.

"He has been.. watching us all the time..?"

Yuichi places his right palm to his eyes, turned the other way and took a few steps.

The 'Boss' had her fist and teeth clenched very hard, almost as if she is about to be possessed by a demon.

"..that son of a b-"

A tune started playing, a cell phone call tune.

Everyone turns to the location of the tune and it is on the 'Boss', her pocket on her jacket.

She reaches for her phone and answers it.

"Hello, Tanaka-san speaking."

She turns around and took 3 steps away.

Ian turns to Yuichi.

"So what do we do now? Do we still go in guns blazin'? Since he is about to leave tonight, I say let's do it!"

Yuichi did not even give a second thought and nodded.

"You're right, we don't have the time to get evidence now. We must stop him!"

Both of them turned to the 'Boss' who is still facing away from them, though it seems the call had ended.

She stood there silent, staring at her cell phone. Then she turns to the boys.

She stares at them with serious eyes.

"That was from headquarters, we have been given a direct order to drop the case and go back to the branch."

Both of them got a step closer as they hear what she said. They are shocked with disbelief.

"What do you mean drop it? Why can't we take him down?" Ian burst out.

Even with that loud outburst, the 'Boss' didn't flinched.

"Somehow I believe that bastard is behind this. They say we were chasing a clean man and that we have damaged his assets. If we are to cause any more trouble, we'll get it from anti-skill. Orders are orders."

"But 'Boss', we can't just let a few orders have that man escape! We have to take him down before he causes more grief and suffering!"

"If we take another step in ARC, they'll revoke our positions as Judgment members and in addition, we'll have to do some time. Maybe getting kicked out of Academy City too. The higher ups can and will do that you know."

The last sentence, the 'Boss' look directly at Ian.

"I'd rather go to jail or get kicked out of Academy City if I can't save my friend! I am not afraid of the higher ups!"

"I am with Khaw-san."

As she listens to what they said, her eyebrow raised a little in a twitch.

"Well if you boys are so certain to go take down that man, then by law I must stop both of you."

The 'Boss' raised both of her arms, one in front and the other in the back.

Ian and Yuichi jumped back as they sense the danger from the 'Boss'.

Throughout the whole time the 'Boss' hasn't smiled once, she has been serious all this time which made Ian and Yuichi confirm that she is going to fight back.

"Boys, don't make me kick your asses. Just leave the case and we don't have to be in trouble with the authority."

They turn their heads to each other and nodded, acknowledging their resolve to stop the doctor at any cost, even if it means fighting with their mentor.

"I'm sorry 'Boss', we must take down Steven Connor, even if it means fighting you."

Both of them get into their stances.

Ian has his right palm to neck level, ready to attack with fire.

Yuichi had two fists ready, one stretch halfway at waist level and the other close to chest, 2 fist lengths away from his chin.

"That man is evil and if it means losing our positions in Academy City to take him down, so be it! We won't stand idle while that madman escapes."

Ian nods in acknowledgment.

The 'Boss', whose expression still remained the same, started to smile.

"Bwa-hahahaha!"

And she burst out in laughter.

Her stance changes to open arms and she moves closer to both of them.

Ian and Yuichi stood in shocked, wondering what is going on as she moves closer to them.

Should we attack? What is this, a trap?

Before anymore question could be thought up and any actions could be taken, the 'Boss' grabs their neck with her arms.

She pulls their faces beside hers, resulting in a hug, all while laughing with a big smile on her face.

"Hahahaha, I knew I picked the right ones to join my branch!"

"Er... 'Boss'?" Ian speaks in confusion.

Yuichi seems like he knows what's going on as he pieces the information together.

"I'm proud of you boys! Believing in what you do even after being treated like that! And by me of all people too! You deserve to be in the 139th forever now!"

The 'Boss' lets them go from the hug.

"So it was all a test." Yuichi said.

The 'Boss' crosses her arms with a big grin.

"Yup!"

Both of the guys sighed but didn't complain since they felt it is not worth complaining about. Instead, they just smiled in relief.

"So, what now? Go get him guns blazin'?" Ian asked.

"Yes and no, we must charge in but not without back up."

"Back up? Who do you have in mind?" Yuichi asked.

"Well we can't have neighboring branches helping; this case is far too dangerous."

And it's okay for 2 members of Judgment and a civilian to charge in head on? This question popped in both Ian and Yuichi's mind.

"So that's why we're getting help from Anti-Skill!"

Yuichi answers back immediately.

"That plan sounds good 'Boss' but aren't you forgetting the orders you got from the higher ups? They told us to stop pursuing right? This means if we were to go ask for their help, they'll lock us up instead of help us."

The 'Boss' crosses her arms. Yes, she still has the same grin on.

"That's why we'll show them the dirt we got, that'll win them over!"

The dirt the boss is talking about would be the evidence, but the evidences were…

"Have you forgotten? The evidences were destroyed when they captured me."

"Really now?"

The 'Boss' looks at Ian with half-open eyes.

She gets closer to Ian and as a natural reflex, Ian moves back a little.

The 'Boss' puts her hands gently on his shoulders, grabs his collar, and slowly pull Ian closer to her.

Ian's shoulders went up as she had her hands on him.

He sees her face up close once more, which made him think, does she do this to everyone? Perhaps she's still trying to get him to the branch.

"Then what is this?"

"Huh?"

Right off his focus; below his vision, he sees something small and white.

The 'Boss' releases her grip on Ian's collar.

She shows him a small, flat, rectangular prism object with a dot on its side and a clip on the flat surface.

"What's that?"

"This is our ticket to winning Anti-Skill over, a miniature video camera. Inside it is a 32 gigabit micro SD card and in it contains what went on in ARC."

Where did it come from Ian wondered?

He grabs on to his collar and realizes the true motive of the 'Boss'.

"Why? Did you think I would get close to you because I think you're cute? Sorry boy, this girl doesn't have time for a boyfriend. But if you want to try your luck, you could always join the 139th, and then you'll have all the time to hit on me!"

The "Boss" winks at Ian.

"So the reason for that collar fixing was to place that camera." Ian reconfirms.

"Yup! Great plan huh?"

Yuichi sighed.

"I'd wish you would have share that with us earlier, it felt like we had no other way to beat that doctor."

"Hahaha! Sorry Ichi-boy, I just felt like having a secret!"

The 'Boss' taps on Yuichi's shoulder; a relieving gesture.

"Alright back to the task at hand, we must get that freak by tonight!"

Both boys gave the 'Boss' their full attention.

"I'll leave you boys to delay 'Doctor Fathead', which means you'll have to fight the controlled students. Since I have a way with people, I'll go and get Anti-Skill and head to the action, pronto. Simple enough right?"

Both of them nodded.

"That sounds good."

"I'm ok with that."

Ian grins in excitement, his nerves are getting pumped. Yuichi smiled too.

"Alright then, split into two teams, I'll be team 'A' because I'll get Anti-Skill."

The 'Boss' place her hand on her chest to show that she's team 'A'.

Then the boss points at both of them.

"And you boys will be team 'Kick His Ass!' Just make sure to leave some action for when I get back okay?"

Both nodded, both fueled, both ready to take on the threat that is Doctor Connor. And that concludes the prep talk by the 'Boss'.

"Alright, let's go then. We'll see you later inside of ARC. Khaw-san, let's go."

Ian nodded and just as he did, Yuichi started running. Ian followed along.

The 'Boss' watches the two as they went away, thinking to herself how fortunate to have people like them in this world. Both of them turned into a corner, leaving her view.

The 'Boss', still smiling, looks at the mini camera between her fingers. Then she tosses it up in the air.

"Alright, I can't let them hog all the fun,"

The camera falls and she grabs it with a swipe of her hand.

"time to get that back-up."

She started running the other way around; onwards to taking down Dr. Steven Connor.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 - A Secret Within, Revealed - Mimicry**

**Part 1**

8:37 PM

A level 0(?) and level 4 esper rushes out of the 7th district of Academy City, into the 10th district.

Some of the students and workers pay next to no interest as they run by.

They aren't sprinting but the level 0(?) is short out of breath.

"…He… hey..! Ha... why did we have to go all the way back there?"

"You were the one leading us, we just followed you" explained the level 4 who isn't showing much, or any, signs of fatigue.

"Ha… ha… oh ya..! Right…! Ha… I thought a park area won't have any camera or bugs..!"

In a familiar alley where they prepped Ian before he went into the ARC, Ian and Yuichi reaches their checkpoint for a breather. Yuichi isn't breathing heavily but he knows Ian needs the rest as Ian is panting hard. The three hours he watched Ian training gave Yuichi a good guess on Ian's stamina level, which isn't much.

Ian wipes the sweat off his face with his right hand and lean on the alley wall.

"..Thanks ha... I needed this. Ha…"

Yuichi acknowledges his thanks with a smile and a nod. He then peaks out of the alley, keeping an eye on anything suspicious.

As Ian is recovering his stamina, he remembers what happened in ARC when he was captured. The strange sphere that flew pass him was a photosphere, Yuichi must have made that and save him in a pinch.

"Oh.. and thanks for saving my butt in there too, wouldn't have escaped without it."

Yuichi turns to Ian, stranger to what Ian had said.

Ian gave him a thumbs up then gets up from the wall.

"I saved you? Where?"

Ian walks towards the entrance of the alley and respond, "Heh, you're a kidder."

Yuichi doesn't show signs of 'joking around' and before he could dwell into more detail, Ian said let's go and head out. Yuichi followed.

They got to ARC, at the entrance of the building. They hid behind the walls that went around the building, peaking at the entrance. Its lights are still lit but there's no sign of activity from where they stood.

Ian then thought of their plan, which at this moment is nothing at all.

"I forgot to ask but, what's our plan when we get in?" he asked as he turns to Yuichi behind him.

"Well, for now we should delay the doctor from leaving Academy City; anything to stall for time until the 'Boss' and Antiskill gets here."

"I see, perhaps we can get him to talk some more. He does like to explain himself."

Ian remembers and suggests that because of his status as a hostage a while ago.

Yuichi is humored by his suggestion because he believes it to be true. Unlike the 'Boss', where she puts on a big grin, Yuichi just smiles while showing little signs of his teeth.

"Yes we can do that. And if worse comes, we can always fight."

The idea of fighting was on Ian's a while ago but he remembered there were many students in the room when he was there. "But, there are many espers protecting Steven."

Yuichi just shakes his head with his eyes closed, and then looks at Ian.

"Don't worry, I am sure we can handle them."

Ian is not confident about Yuichi's statement, perhaps Yuichi might be able to take on a good number of espers at once but he is not sure if he can take on even one of them.

"..Are you sure, I mean, why do you trust me so much?" asked Ian with a questioned look.

Yuichi just smiles, "Take it from this point of view, you've went and followed through with the 'Boss' and her training. Many would've failed at where you succeed. And what you lack in stamina, you make up for in resilience and will. I know you're up for it."

Hearing such words of faith from Yuichi gave Ian much confidence. He feels that it is true; the trails he went through with the boss were no easy task. There were a few incidents where he almost fainted from the exhaustion but managed to fight it off and continued.

"Yeah.. I guess you're right. And if we do get outnumbered, we can last till the 'Boss' comes with back up."

Yuichi agrees and nods, and both of them look at the entrance once more and proceeded to the entrance.

They got to the entrance; the reflection seen in the glass during the day could not be seen as it is much darker outside.

*Vvvvssshh…* the light sound generated by the sliding door, quiet and calm, hiding the storm that's brewing in the building.

They slowly walk into the building, looking for any signs of people. Only silence greeted them.

But that silence is disturb by the bell of the elevator.

At the right corner of Ian's view, where the elevators are at, the elevator door slides apart.

A distinguishable figure embarked from the metal transporter, a man who is the size of your average working man, wore glasses shaped in rectangles, had short, blonde, and roughly spiky hair, with blue eyes, have a goatee, and a very calming demeanor.

Dr. Steven Connor

"There he is." Ian unconsciously speaks out.

His voice alerted the doctor who had taken only a few steps out of the elevator. He stares in shock at the individuals.

Before the elevator door closes, the doctor hastily gets back on the elevator and pushes on the navigational buttons.

Ian and Yuichi immediately run towards the fleeing doctor, but the doctor escaped before they got halfway to the elevator.

Above the elevator, a screen shows the elevator's location by displaying the floor number with an arrow pointing down.

G floor…

B floor…

"He's going to the underground car park, Khaw-san let's go!"

"Right!"

They run to the stairs of the emergency exit, which Ian used when he escaped, and went down to the basement. *Pumg!* pushing away the doors as they go.

When they reached the elevator station, at the shaft that the Doctor used, they get prepared for the doctor with their stances. When the door opens, both of them have the idea of charging in and apprehending the doctor while he is alone.

*Ding!* the announcing ring of an approaching elevator.

The ring made Ian get even steadier than he is by shifting his body lower.

And the doctor would be out for an attack…

…

…

…?

There are some elevators that take a little time for its doors to be open but this elevator is taking a lot more time than any other elevator.

"Look up there."

Ian's attention is directed to the elevator's digital screen.

Where there should be a floor figure is now just an empty blank. _It was B floor a while ago, what happen?_ thought Ian.

Just as soon as he noted the empty floor, it shows floor B with an arrow pointing up beside it.

Yuichi understood what had happen and goes up to the elevator door.

G floor, the elevator is now at rest on the ground level.

"Khaw-san, help me open this door."

Ian did not know what is going on but he helps Yuichi with the elevator door.

"HHHhhhhhgggGGG…!"

"Haaa…!"

In the elevator shaft, a plane of light cuts in the dark. It expands slowly and gradually increases in speed at which the light spreads out in a V-shape.

Ian's head peaks into the elevator shaft. He looks around at the dark and empty area.

Yuichi did the same thing, but he knows what he is looking for. He looks up at the elevator as it rests on Floor G and then directly below at the dark bottom.

With his right hand, he made a photosphere that emits a soft light. Then with one finger, he points it towards the bottom and the sphere flew down.

The sphere abruptly stops before it hits the floor. It lit the area below enough for a human eye to see. It extended down to about 5 to 6 meters (about 16 to 20 feet). From this, they can clearly tell there is another level below the underground car park.

"That's…"

"Yeah, another level below us," said Yuichi.

He then looks around for objects to aide in descending. On the right side of the elevator entrance, he spots an indent into the elevator shaft's wall. This indent has equally spaced bars like a ladder. It is infect a ladder build in the shaft.

Yuichi looks to Ian and points to the ladder.

"I'll go first."

Ian nodded and Yuichi reached for the ladder. It is not far, only an arm's lengths to reach.

As he got a hold of the ladder, he hopped to towards it, swaying a little off by the momentum. He then starts to descend.

"Oh boy…"

Ian shows signs, not little and not much, of stress as he stares at the depth of the shaft. He reaches for the ladder and followed what Yuichi had done.

He got the ladder with his left hand and hopped towards the ladder, landing a foot at the bar- *Shhk!*

"Who- ugh!"

His foot slipped and the weight of his body gave him a nudge down, tugging his arms.

Yuichi holds his descend and looks up at Ian.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The dangling dangler finally gets his footing as he quickly struggles to find one.

"*Huff* *huff* Whoa..! That was too close."

After confirming Ian has a good grip at not falling, Yuichi starts to descend again.

"Be careful, you don't want to fall at this height. Esper or not, you're still human."

After Ian got his bearings, he starts to descend.

"Y-yeah, that will suck."

On the bottom level, with the single ball of light still illuminating the area, Yuichi hopped to the ground and inspected the elevator door. The door is placed above Yuichi's knees and looks tightly secured. Shortly after, Ian joins him too.

"Khaw-san, help me with this door."

Yuichi starts to pry the elevator door open in-between the doors with his fingers and Ian did the same by pulling one side of the door.

*Wwwwrrrrrrrlll…!* A mechanical whirling sound is generator above, on the elevator pod itself.

It got both their attentions as it ascends.

"This is bad," responded Yuichi.

"Oh…"

He then looks back at the elevator door and puts more strength.

Ian did the same as both of them had the same thought, 'Someone is using the elevator and it might come all the way down'.

*Ding!* the announcing ring of a stopped elevator ready to take in its passengers.

The elevator door is yet to show signs of any opening even with they are putting all their strength to it.

"This is going nowhere fast..!"

*Wwwwrrrrrlll…!* to their foreshadowing, they were right, the elevator starts to descend slowly.

"Crap!" exclaimed Ian.

"No good, we need another plan," Yuichi backs off from the door.

"Khaw-san I need you to generate flames, as much as you can."

Yuichi places his right palm forward and created a photosphere.

Ian immediately pushes himself away from the door and starts to make a ball of fire with his right hand while holding onto his right arm with his left hand.

The grapefruit-sized fire above his palm gets siphon into the photosphere in a stream, flickering in sizes.

The elevator is closing as it just reaches ground floor.

"… … …alright, stand behind me Khaw-san."

Ian quickly went behind him and Yuichi stretches his left arm to the left. With that motion, a few dozen photospheres covered both of them in a dotted-sphere. Along with it, the first photosphere Yuichi made dissipates. All the spheres are placed at equal distance between each other. One could vaguely see Ian or Yuichi in-between the photospheres inside this photosphere shell.

The photosphere, away from the shell, that siphoned the flames starts to glow bright and white. In front of the bright, white sphere is the elevator door.

On the other side of the elevator door is a square room about 144 square meters (About 1560 square feet). A few metallic tables are arranged near the middle of the room and countertops are placed on both the left and right side of the room, in respects to the elevator door. A decent-sized room for someone like the doctor to work in.

At the elevator door, the door starts to glow bright red from the center out.

*BAAH!* the flames and the elevator doors shot out of the shaft, and just as quick as it came out, the flames died as quick as well.

The descending elevator filled a quarter of the blown out doors. The two of them quickly bolted out.

They are not completely unscathed from the blast, only debris from the explosion is felt. The "Photo Shell" held its end by absorbing energy that would otherwise be in their faces.

The level 0(?) did not have time to think that the floors are hot as he climbed out, his right hand felt it. Nevertheless, Ian brushed it off and kept running out as the shaft as the elevator descends.

Finally, safe from being crushed, both of them thought.

But their moment of relief is celebrated too early, because at the other end of the room stands the doctor.

*Pi- pi- pi- Piii-!* beeping sound coming from a dial pad. The doctor is inputting a sequence of numbers on a small screen beside a heavily armored door. The doctor took a quick glance at his pursuers, nervously waiting for the door to open.

"A steel doo-"

*Ding* yet again, the elevator bell ring.

Yuichi and Ian did not put much thought on the descending elevator as they were thinking of a way to escape from being pancakes. But this time the bell got their attention as they finally think, _we might have company_.

The elevator's built-in doors slowly unclose, revealing ten choker-equipped students. Expressions on the students' faces are but that of a robot.

*JJJJRRR-* circular bolts inside the steel door rotates, unlocking the steel door that the doctor is waiting so nervously for to open.

Ian looks back at the doctor with the steel door sliding open in a horizontal fashion.

"Khaw-san, I'll handle it from here, just go apprehend Connor."

The level 4 member of the 139th branch of Judgment readies his stance against the ten special ability users as they form a "C" shaped formation in front of him. Ten of the special ability users the famous Doctor Steven Connor handpicked out of the many students going through the power curriculum.

Yuichi did not faze at all.

"Right!" responded Ian as he runs towards the steel door, feeling almost certain Yuichi can handle it.

By then, the steel door is closing itself as it slowly slides in, and the doctor has already left the room.

Just barely slicing Ian in half, he manages to get past the closing steel door.

As the steel door comes to a close, the circular-bolts in the steel door starts to rotate, locking and preventing anyone or any particles from getting past it.

In the decent-sized room, the ten students have yet to make a move, almost as if they are giving Yuichi the first move.

"Alright, let's begin."

The Photosphere user creates five orbs behind his back without moving an inch. Those orbs are placed equal distant from each other and if one were to connect the dots, the shape of the dots would create a pentagon.

Sensing the readiness of the level 4 esper, all the ten students charged in.

At the other side of the steel door, Ian finds himself at the entrance to a hallway that makes a 90 degree turn to the right. But before he entered, the lights went out.

He is surprised by the sudden cut in visibility, and just as unexpectedly, the area blinks once. For a split second, the area lit up and went back into darkness, like an incandescent light bulb flickering to start up.

But this whole pitch black scenario is short lived as the light came back on.

_What was that about? _Ian thought to himself.

Seeing as the right turn is the only path forward, he just runs in thinking he'll catch up with the doctor.

At least when he realizes, the path splits into two ways, forward and left.

"Shit." He blurted instinctively. If he wastes any more time, the doctor is going to get away. There's hardly any time to think so the level 0(?) went left. What made him take a left turn? Not facts, but his gut feeling.

As he ran the maze, he encounters a few more junctions along the way. Without stopping, Ian picks a direction to run into.

Usually when he arbitrarily guesses something like a test question, he would feel uncertain of his choice and that uncertainty nags him in his mind. But here, running into random directions in pursuit of the doctor, Ian doesn't think twice on his decisions.

Confidence from adrenaline or luck? He doesn't care.

The guesses he took landed him at the right spot as all the running around brought Ian to a hallway with a door at the end.

_That must be the exit._

He proceeds forward, towards the door when…

"…!"

… his eyes is fixated on the floor. A grim feeling starts to swallow Ian. Feeling as if his chest is being engulfed, and each breath he took is that of a nervous person. His left foot is about 5 centimeters away from touching the floor, but this floor is different.

He looks back and realizes the floor behind him is not on tiles, it is just flat cement flooring. But the path in front of him is laid in tiles, in four rows. The middle two rows are green which his left feet is currently hovering over.

_I ca- I can't step on… that?_

The cautious guy slowly pulls his left foot back, making sure every move he makes does not end up in him falling or touching the infernal green tile.

But instead of stepping on the middle tiles, he felt a greater relief as he looks at the outer two rows in white. That is the path he took, out of the great fear of the middle tiles.

*Vvvvsshhh…* at the end of the hallway, the door senses Ian's presence and slides open.

He enters into a larger room, bigger than the first room Ian and Yuichi entered. This facility's dimensions are 20 meters by 20 meters (about 66 by 66 feet), with two stories worth of height. The room is equipped with state of the art technology, equipment than seem like something out of a science fiction movie. If Ian is asked to explain what those machines are, he would feel uneasy in giving an answer like a computer.

All the machines are lined up on one wall and across that wall holds about the same setup, so it doesn't take up much space. The facility however has metallic tables in the middle, 6 of them to be precise. On the tables are petri dishes and microscopes, along with cylinders, Bunsen Burners, and other little things one might find in a lab.

Across the room from the door Ian came in are screens. These screens are built into the walls and they are currently powered down. By the screens, stand 3 figures waiting for Ian's arrival.

Noticeably, the doctor himself is recognizable. Beside him are two students with blank expressions but Ian could feel they are ready to fight.

But something is off; the doctor who was nervously trying to escape is just standing in a cool, calm, and collect manner. Ian guesses he thinks he has the situation under control; maybe those students are powerful ability users.

Ian stands on his guard, preparing for what he is about to face.

"You did very well in that maze, I am very impressed…"

The doctor then signals with his right hand and the student on his right starts to move forward, running.

With that, Ian readies his stance to fire a fireball at any time.

Halfway through the room, the student stops and slaps his palm on the floor that looks waxed.

Mists start to flow off the ground and ice crystals form rapidly, making little popping noises similar to ice cubes cracking when warm water is poured on it.

The ice crystals then grew, and grew fast, towards Ian in a speed similar to a bowling ball rolling to the pins.

"…!"

Not only is it fast, but it follows Ian as he discovers moving to one side didn't work.

The ice formation then stopped on his left, and stayed there for a second. But that second felt longer than it should as Ian sees the ice forming from the ground up.

_The ice is…!_

*Shing!*

He pulled his head away just in time to dodge the ice spike. The momentum of the dodge made Ian stumble back two steps.

A thin slanting ice spike is just a meter (3 feet) away from Ian, if he didn't dodge that, he would probably lose his head. For an ice to form that much, the humidity in this room must be high, and speaking of which, the temperature in the room is not cold at al-

But he makes a mistake; he let his guard down as he was looking at the spike. At the right corner of his sight, another ice formation curves into view.

"Whoa!"

Ian jumps back while tossing a fireball down, hitting the ice path dead at its tracks.

*Dah…!*

But before he could relax, two more paths zoom in both sides. He is prepared for it as he makes two fireballs and shoots them with a throw that crosses both his arms.

*D-Dah…!*

Dead on. He realizes his training with the 'Boss' pays off.

"Not taking any more hits." responded Ian and he starts to bombard fires at the student.

*Fwo- Fwom- Daaah…!* the impacting sounds of fire.

The ice spike in front of Ian has evaporated too as it stood in the line of fire.

But at beyond the lingering flames is a transparent ice wall. The student stood behind the wall with his left hand on the wall.

"What the-?"

He is surprised at how fast the student got the ice wall up, but his fires must have done a good amount of damage. The resulting ice wall looks thin.

The walls then regenerate with protruding icicles.

"Alright!" Ian shouted, as he stretches both his arms out and creates more fire balls.

He lets it all out, bombarding two fire balls per second, swinging his left arm and right arm, repeating.

All the shots are almost traveling in a straight line, and the receiving end is bursting with flames.

The student is struggling to keep the shield up, and a hint of struggle shows itself on the expressionless student.

The pyro-repeater stops his barrages and focuses on a large fireball. With his right palm out, he grips his right arm with his left hand and with spiraling orange glows converging in the center of his palm, he creates a grapefruit-sized fireball.

Ian then pulls his right hand to his back…

"Take this!"

…and throws it like a baseball pitcher throwing a fast ball.

*Boom!*

Ice chunks shot right at where the student took shelter in his shield. Along with the ice is the fire pushing in towards him, and the force of that combo sent him flying.

Although the impact is explosive, the student never let out any cries as he is sent flying 3 meters back.

"Ha.. ha…" Ian pants to recover his wasted stamina. He then looks at the scene.

The damage is great but thanks to the remaining chunks of ice, the student is partially on fire. If it weren't for it, the student would be engulfing in flames.

"Oh shit."

As Ian looks at the damage he has done, he quickly extinguishes the flames by putting his right hand out and slowly lowering it, similar to what the 'Boss' did during his training. The fires on the student then slowly extinguish.

When the fire is out, Ian lets out a sigh of relief. The student did attack him, but it was against his will so Ian doesn't want to cause too much harm.

As he looks at the student, he realizes there's something on the student's waist, a cellphone sized bag that has its mechanical contents showing.

"Hahahaha, impressive! You seem to have destroyed the radio receiver as well. He is no longer of use to me now, you should have just let him burn." said the doctor as he smirks.

This doctor has no care for any human life, treating human beings lower than chewing gum; once done, just discard it anywhere. Ian grows in anger by the thought of that.

Although, thanks to that comment, Ian remembers those cellphone like receivers are what's sending the signals to the students. He knows where to aim for now.

The doc then signals with his left hand for the other student to take charge.

This female student dashes straight at Ian. With that speed, he thought she must be an athlete as she closed 10 meters in 2 seconds.

"Ah-!"

He could not react fast enough to use any fire attack and she leaps into the air with her right feet ready to strike him in the chest.

Ian barely dodges that kick as he quickly ducks, and she went past him.

*SSsskkii!* the sound of the rubber from her sport shoes sliding on the floor.

She quickly regains her ground and charges after Ian again, throwing a left jab at him.

He dodges again by bending his body backwards. By using that momentum, he quickly turns his body 180 degrees and started to run.

"Ahh…!"

The student kept chasing after Ian.

He had thought of fighting back, but the student's hand to hand combat seems a little too much for Ian to handle. After all, he has never gotten in any serious fist fights.

Ian escaped to the middle of the room with the 6 metallic tables top with lab equipment. Perhaps the table will serve as a wall to increase the distant apart, he thought.

The student goes up to Ian and does a large swing with her right arm. It almost seems like a vertical slap from the top.

*Plang!*

Ian dodges that blow again by ducking left, and she ended up hitting a metallic tray with several different metallic tools, ones you'd see in a surgery room.

She then swings her right backhand at Ian, but by that time he had already separated the distance by a meter.

Although she did miss Ian, she hit a microscope and knocks it off the table.

As he is fleeing from the berserker, he pushes a chair, with wheels on the bottom, towards her.

*Tunk* she stops the rolling chair with her right palm on the seat.

This is his chance as he tosses a fireball at her, and it is centimeters away from hitting her.

*Fwosh..!*

"What the?"

It missed? Rather than being shocked by the fact that the fireball did not hit her, Ian is amazed by how the student jumps sideways towards and above the table. The height of the jump surpasses 2 meters, out of the way of the fireball.

*Da-Dum!* she lands on the metallic table, kneeling, causing the things on top of the table to bounce.

The parkour artist raises her head and stares at Ian, giving him chills in his spine. She then quickly places her hands down on both sides, resting on the metallic trays. In that same amount of time, she slides the trays towards Ian.

!

When an object slides off across any surface, it is influenced by gravity and therefore creating an arc downwards. Not these trays, they shoot out in a straight line. In addition to the confusion, those trays fly even faster than its takeoff.

All Ian could do is to turn his body sideways to dodge the trays, which shoot pass with him in-between them.

He then looks back and sees the student with both her arms out at Ian.

The doctor chuckles, interrupting the tense situation and made Ian look back at the doctor. He is still standing at the same spot where he stood with his hands in his coat pocket, but due to Ian's movements, the doctor is about 5 meters (16 feet) away from Ian.

"You would do well to have an eye on the enemy at hand."

Ian turns his attention back the student, who has her palms placed on the metallic table she is currently on. Her attention is not on Ian though, but it is on the table itself.

_What is she..?_

She then slowly raises her head and looks at Ian. The table she is on then levitates and gets up to a person's height. She stands up and start spreads her arms. The trays, laboratory utensils, microscope, and chair start to shake and then fly towards the student on the levitating table. The objects then float around the student in a horizontal circle.

"She's a telekinesis?"

As if he needs to state the obvious, but Ian is genuinely surprised by the power of the telekinetic fighter; in order to lift the heavy metallic table and the other shiny objects, she must be a level 3 and above.

The telekinetic esper then swings her arm, and the tray, chair, and sharp utensils then fly towards Ian.

"Oh shit!"

Instinct made him run right in a straight line. The chair flies in front of him, stopping him in his tracks, and crashes on the ground.

The sharp utensils then fly past his back, preventing Ian from jumping backwards.

And the tray, heading straight towards Ian's head, is only a meter away from him.

*Pak!*

Even though Ian tried to block it with his arms, he did not make it in time to shelter his head. His head is then at the mercy of the tray. The impact pushes him to the right as he falls to one knee on the ground, holding onto his head.

The grounded objects then slowly levitate back to their original position in the air.

Ian quickly turned around and tosses a fireball, using his back as an elusive state to get an opening.

But before the fire could reach her, she moves her hand in front of her. The motion puts the microscope in front of the attack, blocking it completely.

She then swings her left arm across and launches the sharp utensils towards Ian.

Ian is still on his knee, with the left side of his body facing the telekinetic student, and he jumps forward with all of his limbs.

The utensils bounces off the floor and Ian's forward momentum made him stumble a little.

The machinery on the walls is about 7 meters away, and on it, Ian sees another tray full of those sharp utensils.

_She might attack..!_

He prepares himself for an attack from the tray on the machinery. If the student can lift herself up with the metallic table along with other objects, it shouldn't be a hard for her to launch those utensils at him. The end result would be bloody.

The guarded esper takes a peak at the student in the air as his front is facing a possible attack from the tray.

…

…?

Her attention is on Ian, but instead she is pulling the utensils that bounced off the ground towards her. The tools fly to her at a slow speed at its take off and increases in speed when it gets closer to her.

Ian takes a look back at the tray on the machine and back at her, wondering why she is not using it to attack him.

After all, it is clos-

She swings both her hands towards Ian, the levitating objects around her then start to fly towards Ian one by one.

He turns 180 degrees and starts to sprint, dodging the objects as hit the ground one at a time.

When the last object bounces, he turns back expecting the objects to fly towards him like a wrecking ball.

"Hm?"

The grounded objects slowly pull back towards the student, again increasing in speed as it gets closer to the student.

…!

In that split second, everything made sense, like a light bulb coming on in his head.

"I see."

The female student first went on to attacking Ian with strange swings. Although she missed Ian, she never missed the things on the table which are the trays, lab utensils, microscope, and a bonus, the chair. What is significant with all of the objects are that they made of metal. That is strike one.

Next is the way the launched objects behaved; its initial speed is fast, but the returning speed is slow at start. If the objects have not returned, she could have just toss the item around like a wrecking ball at Ian. Strike two.

Finally, if she is a telekinesis, she could just move objects from around the area and to attack Ian.

These behaviors are not that of a person who can move things with his or her mind, but rather, a person who has the ability to control…

"Magnetism."

Although, to be more precise, there is more to it.

Naturally, magnetic fields are stronger as the magnetized objects get close. This means they are weaker as they get further and further away. That explains why the returning objects had a slow returning speed at the start and gain more speed as it gets close to the student. That also explains why she did not use the objects as a wrecking ball and slam Ian to a wall.

Although, if the student's power is magnetism, why didn't she pull more metallic objects to her?

The answer is simple, she can't. Only the objects she has come in contact has her magnetic influence. And this explains the reason for her being unable to pull more things to her, and the reason for hitting the objects.

"A limited magnetism."

The doctor can't hide his expression after hearing Ian's comment. Like a criminal who has discovered potential blackmailing information, he has a twisted grin on his face.

Ian, however, is spared of that disturbing look as he is still facing the student on the levitating table.

She throws the objects again, one by one, to Ian.

There's nothing to worry about for the tides have changed.

He knows the nature of her ability, and knowing is one of the best weapons in a battle.

He has the look of a resolved man, confident in his abilities.

As the chair flies towards Ian, all he did is a sidestep to the left. It then is followed by an order of a tray, microscope, and lab utensils. But all fly pass him as he sidesteps to the left and right.

Objects thrown by her will only fly in one direction, there's no fear of its trajectory being manipulated. That is Ian's confidence.

The expressionless student gave a hint of shock, but quickly reverts back to her default expression.

She starts to pull back the objects behind Ian, stretching her hands out.

Catching on to her next move, Ian quickly turns and starts hurling fireballs at the inching objects.

The object quickly turns bright orange and stops moving completely.

He halts his fire as they cease to move.

Yet again another reaction from the student but this time she pulls her hands back, halfway towards her chest.

'How can it be?'

This expression is written all over her face.

Ian is still facing the fire with a fireball above his right hand.

"It's simple really, your ability magnetism. Once heated to a certain degree, magnetic objects will lose its magnetism!"

He turns 180 degrees and throws the charged fireball at the student, curving to the bottom of the table.

*PWOOOSH!* the bottom of the table explodes in flames, looking like a stove with its fire running.

"Ah-!" the impact shakes the table, making it unstable.

The surface of where she is standing on starts to glow orange, her feet would have burnt if it hadn't been for her shoes.

Before she had the time to jump off, the table began to descend with Earth's gravity.

The table fell and it is at a diagonal angle.

*TANG-TONK!* the first two legs of the table slams the ground, knocking the student off to a side.

The athlete rolls like a professional dodger. She looks at Ian after the roll, her face showing she's struggling.

Ian is already prepared with another fireball, holding it to his side.

She gets up and starts to r-

*Tshh…!*

At the side of her waist, cellphone-like object explodes; a direct hit by an accurate shot by Ian.

He tosses the fireball just as she stood up, and misses her completely but gets the device. The device itself is not enough to stop the fire so the fire kept going.

She looks at the broken machinery in the same minor shock expression.

Shortly after, her eyes rolls upwards and she fell to her knees. Finally she falls sideways to the ground, passing out.

The level 0(?) lets out a sigh of relief as both students are out of the picture, leaving the doctor completely defenseless.

*Clap, clap, clap, clap*

Dr. Steven Connor is still standing at the same spot, looking at Ian on his left.

Ian turns to the sound of clapping. What is the doctor up to now.

"Bravo, BRAVO! You're indeed what I have expected you to be." shouts the doctor with no sarcastic intent.

Steven shelters his hands in his coat's pocket.

_A gun?_

Ian prepares himself for that possibility. If he does have a gun and starts shooting at Ian, he at least can run and toss fireballs. But that will depend on how accurate of a shot the doctor is.

The doctor starts to walk forward as he speaks.

"You must feel like a prodigy to be able to defeat two espers with your new gained abilities."

He stops walking and turns his head to Ian.

"I am very pleased to have found you." The doctor smirks.

"?"

Ian doesn't understand what Steven is saying. He starts to walk forward, in the same direction the doctor was walking. There is really no reason for Ian to move, but walking relaxes him a little.

"I took out your 'bodyguards', you have no way to run now. If you do, I'll burn you."

"Oh?" responds the doctor and he chuckles.

"I was right; you do feel high and mighty. But let me pose you this question,"

Ian stops walking, he is a little further ahead than Steven. The distance between them is 6 meters away.

"why did I stay?"

"What? …Oh!"

That's right, why did the doctor stay? Maybe Steven thinks he can fight Ian using some sort of weapon. A gun would be the likeliest and formidable weapon to have. Or is there something else Ian is missing?

"Why did I stay? And why did I watch the whole fight? I should have no purpose to linger around when I could have already flown out of Japan."

"Well I… I don't know."

The doctor pushes his glasses towards his head and said, "It is a very simple answer really, I stayed because of you."

He points his index finger at Ian.

"What?" Ian doesn't hide his confusion.

"You see, I have been studying you, Ian Khaw, after witnessing the very first spark of your flame. But that alone was not enough reason to dwell in your profile, it was something far more extraordinary."

"Wait, you mean that night?"

Steven nods.

_He has cameras in my place?_

"How did you put cameras in my dorm!"

"I had my lab rats did it." answers swiftly by the doc.

"How did- argh, never mind!"

Ian really wanted to ask how the doctor had cameras in his place as his privacy is violated, but that question is not the important one to ask; taking care of the doctor would get rid of the cameras. What is important to ask is the 'extraordinary' part; how the doctor chooses his targets.

"So, you said something 'far more extraordinary', what is it? Is it how fast I got good with my ability?"

Steven lowers his hand, "No, it's not it. Espers have different rates of improvement and I have studied that."

The doctor pauses for 3 seconds.

"Actually, I would not imagine you knew the answer; I've had a little time before I understood the phenomena."

The answers given by the doctor are too vague for Ian to understand. Rather than trying to understand, he waits for more response from the doctor.

Steven looks at Ian for about 3 seconds, almost as if waiting for Ian to respond.

"Focus, enhance sight, and enlightenment, these experiences should be felt by you."

Being able to focus, to see well, to and understand, everyone feels those experiences. Telling Ian that he knows those experiences doesn't answer much.

"I still don't get what you are saying."

But the doctor is not done explaining. He looks at Ian and continues, "Other latent factors are critical analysis and rational hypothesis, but the one distinct observation would be the dilation of the pupils."

Ian understands the words the doctor is using but what he does not understand is what is the d-

!

*Shuu… Clank!* something flies pass Ian's head, about 5 centimeters away from his nose, and hits the wall.

His whole body freezes in what looks like a shock. If something were to fly pass someone's head, he or she will most likely be alerted and naturally look at where the object was thrown.

Ian did not move a muscle.

A droplet of sweat rolls on the side of his face as the same question echoes in his mind. _What was that?_ He is not frightened by what had so closely passed his head but he is in shock of the experience he felt.

"Focus, enhance sight, enlightenment, critical analysis, rational hypothesis, and…"

says the smirking doctor while he looks at Ian from 6 meters away, focusing at his eyes.

"…dilation of the pupil,"

The eyes of the level 0(?) are indeed, dilated.

Ian shuts his eyes and rubs them with one hand, while shaking his head. He still could not believe what he experienced as he looks back at Steven and then at the direction of where the object flew.

_I saw it..!_

What he saw was a scalpel, but not just that, he saw the scalpel in full detail. If a camera is to take a picture of a moving object, the image would be blurred. The same thing could be experienced with the human eye when something quick passes, the thing would be blurred. The scalpel he saw was clear enough, he read the company name on it.

"those are the effects that a person experiences, a person with self-intuitive manipulation."

Upon hearing that, he turns back at the doctor. He is confused yet he understands, unsure yet he knows it is right. Ian listens intensively for more answers from the doc.

"You see when a person subjects SIM into any activity, that person can produce fast results in learning. You have displayed that with your growth as a pyrokinesis, subconsciously you learned how to harness that ability. I was quite surprised to observe that talent in you, but another question surfaces: If you have SIM, how did you acquire a non-relatable ability such as pyrokinesis?"

The doctor realizes his glasses are not clean. He then takes off his glasses and started cleaning it with his lab coat.

"Shortly after, more anomalies surfaced; you displayed the ability to manipulate light spheres."

"You mean Photosphere?" he wanted to make sure.

"Indeed."

"But I never made th.."

Ian remembers Yuichi's reaction when Ian gave his thanks, Yuichi did not know what he was talking about. But it was clear as day the photosphere saved him, it not, he would've been captured.

The doctor directs his attention away from his glasses and looks at Ian.

"When the human mind detects peril, it can act on its own subconscious. It acts instinctively. You displayed the same behavior in the maze."

"The maze?"

Ian remembers the hallway he entered into, when the lights blinked twice. And at the end of it, he felt the uneasiness of the green floor tiles. Did SIM have a part to play in that?

The doctor blows on his glasses and looks at it at an angle and then continues to wipe his glasses again, leaving no trace of oil or dust.

You see, I had that maze designed to test the SIM level of your subconscious. In the event of the blackout, what you might have not realized is the flash of light gave you crucial information. In that instant of a flash, your mind saw it, the layout of the maze and the property of the green tiles."

Ian looks back at the entrance he came in and he thought to himself that place was designed to test him.

"It would have been a terrible thing to lose a specimen as impressive as you, if you'd had stepped on the green tiles. You see, it is wired to a high voltage generator, one step and you would be fried."

_So that's what it was, that dreadful feeling!_

"But it seems your instincts are working accordingly, that proves to me you have the ability SIM."

Steven lifts his glasses up into the light of an industrial incandescent light, hanging off the ceiling, to check it. He then equips it back and continues to speak.

"Even so, an esper displaying three completely different abilities, unrelated to one another, is the greatest mystery. If SIM is the culprit, then I should be able to achieve the same results. But to have another ability completely unrelated to your own is simply impossible, it's like creating fire with only two blocks of ice."

The information given to Ian made him unsure of as to how to reach, all he does is just stand his ground and take in the details. Though, his heart beats in anticipation and discomfort, as though he might learn that he is an alien out of this world.

He looks back at Ian again, after gazing the ceiling.

"It all does not add up, unless there is another factor in play. Something that allowed you, the given title of Level 0, Ian Khaw, the ability to wield three unrelated abilities."

Tension in waiting for the answer is at its peak for Ian. Just what could it be? Is it biological? Is it a drug? Is it something he ate?

Steven's twisted smile came back as he speaks.

"After you displayed the light sphere and left, I knew it then; i know what the factor is,"

He raises his arm halfway, opening his palm facing upwards.

"a very simple answer… Mimicry."

A gulp went down Ian's throat, uncertain of what he had just heard.

"Mi-mimicry..?"

"Indeed…" the doctor laughs.

"It explains everything! The fact you learned three abilities is proof enough!"

The doctor is filled with joy and excitement at the very word of "Mimic", he lets himself go by raising his voice.

As if to counter that, Ian responds by shouting too, "B-but how can that be, if I had mimicry, then why didn't I get to use abilities when I came to Academy City!"

"It's simple! Oh, so, simple! You were being taught different kinds of application and you were not given the full lesson on a single ability!" says the hysterical doctor, "I even theorized for your ability to have a limit, it must have a capacity! Like the human memory, when it's too full it gets deleted!"

Steven holds onto his head with one hand, laughing. Ian is very alerted by his actions but continues to listen.

"Hahahaha..! Of course with no help to improve, you've just been in stasis! Heh-heh-heh-heh..!"

The doctor tries to control his laugher and calms a little, but his hands are still shaking from the excitement.

"MmMMmm…gah..! ha..haha… but at last, I showed up.. It was I that gave you SIM…, and it was SIM that gave you the boost..! With SIM, you are able to learn the abilities in more depth and detail, copying what you see and applying it to your own development..!"

He slaps his chest with his left hand, signifying that he is the one who helped Ian.

"Don't you see..? I was the catalyst you needed.. SIM was the catalyst needed to allow you to use special abilities! Hahaha! And with SIM, your abilities get a boost as well!"

As if trying to hold himself down, the lunatic grips his shoulders with both his hands, bursting in laughter.

Ian stares at him, uneasy. He took a step back out of instinct even though they are 6 meters apart.

The man who is laughing while facing the ceiling drops his head down. He then slowly lifts his head up and looks at Ian, "Ahha..haha..ha… Oh.. how I want to study you now…"

He looks like a poor man who just had found a fortune of gold, that doctor, as he looks at Ian. That man must have lost it, Ian thought. Now he has learned the truth of his latent ability, mimicry, he feels a new sense of power.

Steven who has been rambling about why he is interested in Ian has ended his explanation. That is good news for Ian as it did kill off time. The next course of action is to apprehend the doctor and all will be set. His confidence is high.

"..You want to study me huh? Have you forgotten how you just explained the extent of my abilities? And with SIM, you just explained that I can be an even greater ability user. You won't be able to get me, but I will be able to knock you out. Besides, what is SIM going to do for you now?"

His confidence in himself is very high.

After laughing up a storm, the doctor finally calmed down. If there's any excitement left, it would just be a smirk on his face.

"Oh…? What mighty words uttered. You really think I am powerless? I did say it was strange that if it's only SIM powering your abilities, then I should show the same behavior."

He pushes his glasses in, and the table on his right starts to levitate off the ground. Ian stared at the ascending table, speechless. _Is there another esper in this room with us?_ He thought.

"But one's ability can't stray off from its original; it has to be within the bounds of his or her ability. Telekinesis is within my grasp."

Ian looks back at the doctor, the source of the power, in a little disbelief. He prepares himself for a battle.

"I've always knew the nature of SIM. Between telepathy and telekinesis, I chose the latter."

The doctor puts his hands in his pocket, showing that he is a powerful ability user who doesn't need to have his arms out to control the table, but only with his mind. Ian is now aware of that fact. He even realized the scalpel that flew in front of him was tossed by the doctor himself.

"Also, similar to how well you've developed your pyrokinesis, having a better understanding of the ability improves its power and control. We can thank SIM for that."

Ian has been the ear this entire time, he felt a need to point out the obvious by saying, "You really do love to talk."

More objects around the area starts to levitate; the tables, chairs, tray, glass, test tubes, Bunsen burners, all hover above him.

"I should state that with SIM, the overall scale of my ability rivals that of a level 4."

A droplet of sweat rolls off his face as he witnesses the amount of power Steven is showing. That is unreal, thought the level 0(?) mimic esper.

The doctor senses his hesitation and grins evilly.

"It will be interesting to face off an opponent with SIM."

"!"

He got his right hand out of his coat pocket and directs it at Ian, which lead the objects to fly towards the level 0(?).

'Oh god this is bad' is the perfect phrase for Ian's expression.

**Part 2**

"Come on! I ran all the way here just to get your asses to help me!"

In a certain large building where Anti-Skill calls their headquarters, inside the building at the receptionist area, the 'Boss' can be described as yelling in the face of the receptionist.

There are two of the receptionists and the 'Boss' is directing her everlasting fury on one of them, a poor clueless man. All he could do is hold both his hands up in the air as if the 'Boss' is pointing a gun at him. His partner beside him is as confused as he is as well, she wants to ask the 'Boss' to calm down but doesn't know how to approach her.

Out of curiosity, people around the area look at what all the commotion is about. Some of them are stunned as well, like a child witnessing his older sibling getting scold by their parent.

Even though the 'Boss' is a part of Judgment, she has never been into the headquarters of Anti-Skill before. Her first move, she thought, was to go up to someone and 'talk' to them until a superior show up.

"If you don't call your forces now, that damned doctor is going to get away! I have evidence of his crimes on this memory card!"

She shoves the tiny memory card in front of the man's face, making him fall back further into his seat.

"Nana-jan?"

Upon hearing a familiar voice, the 'Boss' turns her head enough to see who is behind her.

A mature and beautiful woman stands 2 meters away from her with a green jersey on, her hair is blue, long, tied at the back, and split in the middle of her forehead. Her eyes are that of an experienced, laid-back fighter, and she her greeting to the 'Boss' has a 'long time no see' expression in it.

"Aiho-nee?"

The woman's name is Yomikawa Aiho, a PE teacher and a member of Anti-Skill. She has a superior kind of aura that even makes the foolhardy 'Boss' stand back in respect.

Aiho gets closer to Nanako, "It's been awhile, how's Kimiko? Is she do-"

"Aiho-nee! I need your help!" interrupts Nanako as she turns 180 degrees, showing the memory card to Aiho, which made her stop walking.

"This is the proof that will take down the doctor once and for all."

The lady in the green jersey stares at the 'Boss' for a second, collecting her thoughts. She then gets the situation and smiles, "Well, you better start talking-jan."

Meanwhile, below the ARC building in a square room, Yuichi is dodging pink beams by running. The beams crash into the walls, leaving burnt spots. There are some students who are passed out on the ground and only 4 more left standing.

Yuichi is slightly beaten up and a little tired, but he is still good to go to take down the remaining 4, one of them with his hand out who had just fired the beams.

Photospheres appear behind Yuichi again with the clenching of his fist. The student with his hand out fires more beams, creating a single maraca shaking-like hiss sound for every beam. The student on his left swings his arms, cutting the air, and sending blades of shockwaves, and the other student charger at Yuichi.

What Yuichi is concern about are the blades of shockwaves so he has his eyes on the nearly invisible blades. He then charges towards the 3 students when a beam is about to hit him.

But it did not.

Like a vacuum, the photosphere absorbs the beam as Yuichi directs the sphere into the trajectory of the beam.

A few blades nearly get the nimble Judgment member but fail to hit him. All he did is just some quick sidestepping to dodge them.

But while sidestepping, the charging student got close enough to Yuichi to start attacking, facing his palm towards Yuichi as he throws his hand. Though it did not work as the skillful redirection techniques of Yuichi redirected the attack to the ground; Yuichi grabs the wrist of the student with both hands and pulls diagonally downwards.

*Tak!* the sound of a palm hitting the ground and shortly after, the ground around the palm starts to vibrate.

The palm-grounded student looks up at Yuichi and receives a blow to his head; Yuichi strikes downwards on the student's head.

He then quickly bends back as a blade fly pass in front of his torso, and then starts running at the student firing the beams.

One by one, the beams gets absorb into the photosphere and Yuichi is now a meter away. He pushes upwards with his right hand holding on to the wrist of the beam gunner and shoves a photosphere near the student's chest with his left hand.

*Pi-! Bah!* a pink explosion erupts in the student's chest, forcing the student to take a flight of 5 meters away with no soft landing.

Behind Yuichi, the student with the ability to produce wind blades has his arms wide open diagonally, ready to clamp his hands to produce blades at point blank.

The Judgment member turns 180 and takes a step towards the student, closing the distance between them by 40 centimeters (1+ foot).

To the student view, his both arms are out and ready to clamp. His right hand is higher than his left hand, therefore an invisible diagonal line can be imagined to show the way the hands will collide. Although, while in his view, he sees Yuichi taking a step in with his arms crossed, forming a line with his forearms. At the end of the forearm line, Yuichi's hands lies there.

All this information is insignificant if it had no purpose, but it does. To the student's view, his invisible line of movement, Yuichi's forearms are directly on the line.

When the student clamps his hands, he stops halfway. Thanks to Yuichi placement of his arms, it is like a steel rod lodge within a crocodile's jaws.

Yuichi then grabs the student's wrists and makes a semi-circle with his arms, opposite to one another. The result, the student finds his arms crossed and immobilized.

Bam!

The level 4 Judgment member then head-butts the student in the forehead, causing the student to go limp and fall.

_Phew_ he thought, a breather at last.

*Step*

?

By now Yuichi has finally beaten every one of the students, there shouldn't be anyone else standing. He turns around to find 3 more students are up and ready to fight, as if they are fully recovered.

"H-how..?"

Yuichi then sees a female student tending to a downed student, holding on to the receiver and his head. Shortly after the student gains consciousness and stood up and even the receiver is fully repaired.

"You-!" he remembers the fourth student who never attacked and disappeared. When he was fighting the other three, she must have gone around healing the others.

_Okay, I need to targ-_

*tap* he feels a hand on his shoulder and quickly responds to it by throwing his elbow to his back.

!

He stops the attack, all at the sight of a familiar face. Kokawa Isao, the new member of his branch and his new friend.

Yuichi then feels a hand on his ankle and a horrible foreign pain crawls all over his leg.

"Gah!"

The student who had his head punched crawled his way towards Yuichi, and had injured him.

Isao then throws a punch, which is redirected by Yuichi towards the crawling student. Isao fell on the student and Yuichi got away, with his leg still ringing with pain.

He limps his way to a wall and leans on it. The other students, including Isao, form a semi-circle around him.

"..not good." says the only Judgment member in the room as he grips his leg.

*Fwoosh!* fire bouncing off a metal tray that hangs mid-air. Even though the tray got a direct blast, it did not nudge at all and stayed like a solid steel wall.

Things like chairs, lab utensils, microscopes, and books are flying by Ian as he runs around tossing fireballs. With this much activity running around and attacking, he is exhausted, but he persevered. If he stops now, he might lose the doctor, or even his life.

"You should learn to use multiple abilities at a time!" advises the doctor while attacking him.

Why is he teaching him how to fight? Why is he not serious? Ian can obviously tell the doctor is just toying with him, but that is a good thing. The more time he spends being toyed around by the doctor, the better the chance of the 'Boss' showing up with Anti-Skill. That is his only chance.

Ian quickly stops and turns towards Steven and throws a fireball.

Two metal trays are hovering in front of him and they move in a very straight, mechanical fashion. For every change in the movement it stops briefly, in less than half a second, and then moves straight to its next destination.

And the tray blocks the fireball again.

Ian knows by now none of his attacks will reach Steven, but he occasionally tries some quick attacks that end in no effect. He then continues to dodge several things one by one as they zip around. Unlike Yuichi, he is not good at dogging close attacks, so his only option for dodging is running away.

"Ha.. ha…" fatigue is catching up with him.

The doctor is not amused; watching Ian running around while he half-heartedly throws things at him is getting nowhere. He then pulls the objects back towards him with a command of his left hand.

Ian slows down with his running, catching his breath once he stops moving.

"I have grown tired of this foolish play, I thought I could study you more with a battle scenario. I'll just have to study you up close."

The doctor puts his right hand out towards Ian and multiple objects above him starts to charge towards the Level 0(?) in multiple directions.

Running is no longer an option now, and it was his only option. There's no way to dodge and no way to fight, what is he supposed to do? And all he did is watch as the inevitable is about to happen; getting crushed by the plethora of flying objects.

…?

He felt it, his vision sharpened and his focus broaden, and he sees all the flying objects heading towards him. But the speeds of the objects are at snail pace as best.

Like a fortune teller gazing into the future upon the crystal ball, he sees the trajectory of all the objects and understands their pattern of movement. He then sees it, a defensive maneuver he can perform. A large fireball onto the ground 2 meters away from him, the blast then would take care of the rest.

Centripetal force is key and he begins to understand that. With more spin, there's more force in something.

He understands in that prolonged split second and quickly acts.

The pyrokinesis lifts both his hands up and generated a fireball the size of a basketball, twirling between his palm, and throws it on the ground 2 meters away from him. By the time the flames hit the ground, the objects are 2 meters away from him too.

Boom! The blast successfully pushes all the objects away from Ian, flying pass Ian and hitting the wall behind him.

He pants, he did it. He successfully pushed the flying objects away. He pants some more.

Ian was successful in pushing the objects away, but he felt much more fatigues after that experience. He feels a little light-headed but not so severe.

"Excellent work, at last you have learned," congratulated the doctor while clapping his hands, "you have learned to use multiple abilities at once. I am aware you've expended more energy after that. Of course, the first time using SIM does take its toll."

"Ha… oh ya… ha.. ha.. that time.."

The mimic esper understands as he remembers the first time when SIM kicked it, when Isao was a running target to the 'Boss' as she fired fireballs. After that incident, he went back and immediately passed out in bed.

Ian rubs his eyes with his hand, in a relieving focus kind of way.

At least he now can tolerate the use of SIM, that's good enough for him.

He looks at his right hand and remembers what Yuichi told him. When he asked Yuichi what his powers was, Yuichi explained the photosphere. _If the doctor's theory is right, then I should be able to use the photosphere too. _He clenches his right hand into a fist and looks at Steven.

As if to show the doctor what he can do, Ian focuses on his right hand. He thinks back on how he learned pyrokinesis in his dorm, by remembering the details from the 'Boss'. He applies that same method to Yuichi's photosphere while remembering what Yuichi's take on his ability was.

To mimic his ability… to mimic his personal reality…

Quick flashes of light start to manifest above Ian's right palm, and shortly after, a blacken sphere is formed. A photosphere is created.

Unlike Yuichi's photosphere, Ian's take on the ability would be that of a level 1, still small and unstable.

Impressed, Steven is starting to enjoy the new data.

"Oh… impressive, you have begun to explore the other latent abilities your mimicry had picked up."

The photosphere is small and to some people, it seems very insignificant as an offensive measure. A street thug could just easily brush it off, comparing its usefulness to that of a flashlight. But to the doctor, he is more interested in studying than fighting Ian.

It is true that the tiny photosphere shows almost no application in a fight, but Ian remembers the words of the person who passed him that ability.

_I can make spheres when I come in contact with light, it just travels to the location I desire. Light does travel very fast you know._

He then directs his palm at the doctor and the tiny sphere disappears on his hand.

"Hm? Wha- argh!"

A rapid fire of flashes began about 10 centimeters away from the doctor's face, causing the doctor to be partially blind.

He tries to block the flashes by covering his eyes, it works to block out the light but the doctor still can't see Ian.

When the doctor is finally annoyed, he swings his other hand around in a similar fashion to the 'shooing a fly' motion, to try to get rid of the source.

No effect.

In Ian's case, it is a success as he has blinded the doctor or temporarily impaired his vision enough to make his next move.

The ability is still new to Ian so he is focusing closely on the photosphere barrages. When carrying a new born baby, you don't run with the infant in your arms, the same principle can be applied here.

He slowly walks towards the doctor with his left hand behind him, slowly creating a flame. The doctor changes his tactics of 'shooing' the flashes to randomly throwing things in random directions, in hopes of hitting Ian.

Now, random objects flying around have its usefulness as the arbitrary paths scare Ian. Imagine a gun fight with bullets zipping around at supersonic speeds and you're in the middle of it, which is how it feels like to Ian at this moment.

All he did is try to remain focus and calm, and pray none of the objects gets him.

In seconds, he is 2 meters away from the doctor. To directly launch the blast in the doctor's abdominals is the plan.

Just a few more steps to go…

The fireball in his hand grows more with the help of SIM.

SIM, the ability to understand, is what gives Ian the edge at this moment.

SIM, the ability to focus, is what gives Ian more control over his powers.

SIM, the ability to manipulate the intuition, is what gives Ian more mental processing ability.

It is SIM, and Steven is the one who passed it to Ian.

The doctor stops his random bombardments and smirks, covering his eyes with one hand and stood straight. Ian feels the danger.

"Do not forget that I possess SIM as well.."

"Ah-!"

*TANG!* one of the metallic table flies down on its side and crashes into the ground, creating a wall in-between Ian and the doctor. The table has wrinkles on its side that took the impact and the ground threw concrete debris.

It is too sudden, too surprising. The focus Ian had goes into shock and both the fireball and photosphere dissipates.

The table then slides towards Ian and he holds on to it by pushing his body against it, his shoe slid on the ground and occasionally screeches.

Their destination, the wall, and they approach it fast. Ian knows if he hits the wall at this speed, he'll be crushed. But what can he do, he can't move!

-!

Luck is on his side, he didn't realize he is in-between the legs of the table. The legs dug into the wall on impact. Small amounts of concrete dust can be seen in a quick puff of smoke.

At the momentum he was going, it put his back onto the wall. _What had just happen?_ he thought as he looks around the table and its legs.

Ian gets out of the table through its legs, getting tired after focusing using SIM for that amount of time.

The doctor, still standing on the very spot he walked to, is just having fun. Both his hands are back in his coat pocket.

"Fatigued? Unsurprising for a first timer, but I must applaud you for lasting this long. Using SIM must have taken a great deal out of you."

And the doctor is right; Ian looks like he had just ran a marathon. His body is not physically tired, but rather his brain is exhausted. Panting is a way to get more oxygen to the brain.

Time to use his mimicking ability again, this time some ice would be nice.

He looks at his right hand, remembering the ice user's movement, his fluidity.

And with the help of SIM, he slaps his right hand on the ground!

…

…

"Huh?"

Something is wrong, nothing is happening. He should have been able to use some ice powers but he did not.

The distance apart from the esper he mimics should not be an issue; Ian has been close enough with the ice user. Before he even learned pyrokinesis, he stood further away from the boss than the ice user.

Examining every detail with SIM shouldn't be the problem either; Ian used Yuichi's ability Photosphere before examining him with SIM. He was practically blind when he and Isao were almost beaten up by thugs.

So what is the problem here?

"Ah… I see. It looks like I have just understood something about your mimicry."

His right hand is still on the floor as he looks at it, Ian looks at the doctor.

"You are trying to replicate the subzero spikes are you not? But you couldn't. With my observations of you, I've concluded that your ability has a limit."

Ian stands up, still keeping an eye at the doctor, and listens more.

"As fancy as your ability is, holding 3 personal realities can be taxing to the brain."

The doctor chuckles at his own theory, knowing he is right and basking in his intelligence.

Ian walks towards the doctor until he is, again, 6 meters away.

Steven chuckles in pity, who knew he could actually pity someone.

"It has been quite amusing," said the doctor.

Ian stretches his right hand to his side and makes a fireball.

"but I really must be going."

"What..? You've been messing around with me all along..? ha.."

"As I have explained, I am merely studying the progress of your combat abilities. Fighting you is of no benefit."

Ah ha, Ian senses the talkativeness is coming back. Thank god, a good chance for Ian to waste more time and recover some of his stamina. He also wants to know something.

Ian lowers his right hand, dissolving the fireball. Maintaining an ability is does take its toll, like holding a dumbbell for an extended period of time.

"W…why? Why are you doing this..?"

"Hmm? Doing what? Toying around with you?"

"No, capturing students and causing all this shit..!"

The doctor is one of the brightest minds in Academy City, he can obviously tell Ian is stalling for time. But at the same time, he has not had anyone to talk to about, about his real work. The stage is as good as set for the doctor, there's no need to worry about anything else. After all, the growing urge to share a secret is too much fun to pass after all.

Steven just smirks, "It's simple, it is all for study and research purposes."

"Research..? Just because of that bullcrap..? You kidnapped innocent people for that reason?"

He let himself go, uttering his thoughts as it came.

"What the hell is so important about this research anyway, and if so, why is it so important that human lives show no value?"

The doctor lowers his head and pushes his glasses, unamused. There is no way for Ian to understand unless Steven explains it.

"It's the hunger.."

_Hunger?_

"An unquenchable thirst for knowledge, that is one side effect of SIM. Having possessing SIM, I wanted to learn more, understand more. I've read and studied every single scientific reports, but they were incomplete. When encyclopedias and research notes hit a dead end, I see a new way. But apparently the new ways are deemed inhumane, what illogical nonsense!"

He looks back at Ian, with the same twisted smirk on his face.

"But the man who raised me, taught me those researches are incomplete. The researchers did not take the necessary step for the evolution of science. For the sake of knowledge, we as scientists must go all the way. All for the sake of knowledge… and this knowledge is what I crave."

All for the sake of knowledge? Ian cannot process that idea in his mind. It is just the stupidest thing he has heard.

"A thirst unquenchable, and it is all from SIM. Maybe one day you'll come to learn its quality, since you are already exposed to the effects of SIM." And the doctor ends by pointing at Ian.

His stomach felt uneasy as the idea of becoming just like the doctor sinks into his mind. To be a twisted scientist who would go beyond the line of being humane and do twisted studies, Ian would much rather die. But SIM caused all this, and he has that very ability.

The conflicted esper mimic drops his head and to the doctor, it seems Ian has accepted the inevitable. Steven is very pleased at that idea, perhaps that esper in front of him will aide him i-

"I'm sorry, I don't buy it."

The smirk on Steven's face went away, like someone discovering their parked car is rear-ended.

Ian looks back at the doctor.

"Don't blame this all on the ability, blame this on yourself." Confidence is showing in his eyes. "You are the one who said the man who raised you taught you this kind of stuff. Obviously, you grew up with that idea in your mind. It is not SIM that gave you the 'hunger', it is you yourself."

Steven is very unamused, getting lectured by someone younger and someone who he deems inferior to himself.

Like adding salt to an open wound, Ian provokes the doctor even more.

"I am surprised you never figured that out, and you have SIM way longer than I have."

"You watch your tongue, insect!"

The doctor hang's his body forward with his hands out of the pocket, like a bear on its hind legs.

"Oh my, look at who's pissed. Anyway, I will never become like you. I'll make sure I don't abuse my abilities, and if I do, I have my friends to stop me."

"Friends? You mean that filth? Ha! Don't make me laugh, he's long dealt with."

Hearing that, Ian can't help but feel uneasy as he takes peak at the door where he came in from. Is Yuichi captured? He has been fighting the doctor without giving a second thought to his friend. Ian truly believes he can handle himself, but what if he really is captured?

"I had your friend Isao taken care of him. The last I checked, my test subjects manage to surprise him with Isao, ultimately injuring him. How is that for friendship?" says Steven as he regains his composure.

Crap, Ian thought.

"You bastard!"

The doctor chuckles, "It has certainly been educational while it lasted, but it is time for our departure."

He said 'our', hinting that Ian is going with him as well. Ian though, is too focused on keeping the doctor from leaving and fighting the doctor to remember that he is the reason Steven is staying.

The doctor stretches out his left hand towards Ian and the things above him, which stayed levitated throughout the conversation, started to fly towards Ian.

By now, Ian is well rested. He knows he redirected all the objects once, and he can do it again. He prepares a fireball and gets read-

*Doh!*

"Mgah!" something got Ian at the back of his head, an encyclopedia the size of a phonebook from the United States.

His vision is blurring, he is dazed. Ian grabs the back of his hurting head and looks forward.

A blur grey spot is growing and becoming more visible. It's… a.. a… microscope!

"Dah-hah!" a direct impact right in the middle of his chest.

Just as quick as it hit Ian, the microscope pulls away from him, leaving him coughing in pain. He grips his chest with both hands.

"Nng… AHH!"

In just less than a second after getting hit in the chest, two tables fly in opposite direction of one another and sandwiched Ian in the middle. The tables then fly away from Ian.

He feels weak. He feels pain. His legs tremble in pain and he falls to his knees. The falling momentum did not stop there as his upper body falls forward too. He tries to support himself with both his arms but they give way before he could rest his upper body weight on them, and falls on the ground on his side.

He pants in pain.

"Attacking outside of your opponent's field of vision, not even SIM can help you."

It hurts, did he break a bone? Ian lies down on the cold floor and tries to looks up, right at the doctor.

He is just standing with his left hand out. He pushes his glasses and puts his hand back in his coat pocket.

The objects around him settle away from him, organized. The small things rest on the grounded table.

Ian looks back down, thinking this is it. He can't even move, it's over he thought. He looks down on the door he entered, wondering if Yuichi is doing well. If he is, then now's the time to save him.

"It's time we take our leave… hmm?"

**Part 3**

Steven looks at Ian on the ground, in pan and panting because of the pain. Time collect the research specimen and leave the city.

?

The doctor's attention is at the door that Ian entered. He heard something. A tapping sound perhaps?

*….zzzzt!* a quick bright orange line zipped through the door, following the same outline as the door. It left a trail of burnt metal and still glowed orange and falls to the ground, into the room.

Just as the door rests on the ground, people with body armor storm in. There are 20 of these people, all of them carrying what seem like high-tech assault rifles in hand and riot shields at their back.

Ian sees a blue-haired woman walking closer to him and stands in front of him. The 20 people are not done coming in yet.

"Take formation!" ordered the blue-haired lady.

16 of them made an arc around the doc, leaving the middle open where Ian and the lady are at.

The other 4 checks on the two students on the ground and carries them off.

"Rubber rounds!" a second command is issued.

The people then equip their shields and aim their weapons at the doctor, who is still astonished by the display.

Ian, who is still on the ground, is as astonished as the doctor. He looks at the lady standing in front him with a weapon in one hand and a shield in another.

"Y.. you are.."

He sees the logo on her body armor, a logo that has white stripes and a 'W' kind of text in the middle. It's the symbol of Academy City's police and security force, Anti-Skill.

She looks at his astonished expression and smiles, "You did well, leave the rest to us-jan."

"I see you've got things ready, as expected." The 'Boss' enters with the same big smile.

Ian looks at the door and sees the 'Boss' with Yuichi walking in. His attention goes to Yuichi as he checks if he is alright. He has a little dirt on his clothes but other than that, Yuichi is fine.

They reach Ian, the 'Boss' stands with her arms crossed while Yuichi got on his knee to talk with Ian. Ian is still on the ground and looking up at his state must be sore for his neck, so Yuichi is being considerate.

"You did well Khaw-san, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, just a scratch." Ian jokingly responds.

"Good! Can't have you kicking the bucket so soon." says the 'Boss'.

The 'Boss' then offered Ian a hand and pulls him off the ground. Yuichi then stands up.

Ian did not feel any excruciating pain anywhere as he got up, so perhaps the tables that sandwiched him didn't cause him any broken bones.

"Be careful, he knows telekinesis and claims to be as good as a level 4." Ian warns them.

The 'Boss', Yuichi, Aiho, along with several Anti-Skill looks at Ian in a kind of disbelief manner.

"What? He has two abilities?" the boss asks for everyone.

"No, not quite. Telekinesis is a part of his ability SIM as well. I saw and experienced it myself, literally."

"No wonder you were on the ground, I thought this doctor had a stun gun or something. No way would my training lose to an average person!"

The 'Boss' is very proud of her methods of teaching, and Ian must admit without her training he would not have gotten far.

They all now face a single doctor in the room, the source of the kidnappings and disappearances. It is now Doctor Steven Connor against all of them.

"What the hell is this!" the doctor finally speaks.

"Doctor Steven Connor, you're hereby wanted for kidnapping and conducting illegal experiments. Stand down and give yourself up." said Aiho in a solid voice.

Steven is confused and enraged, looking back and forth at the Anti-Skill.

"I said what the hell is this! You shouldn't be here; I should not be targeted by Anti-Skill and Judgment anymore!"

"We've received new, crucial evidence on your crimes. You are now a wanted man."

The doctor's hands are like claws at this point, spread out like an eagle's claws.

"Evidence? What EVIDENCE?"

The 'Boss' steps up, "This evidence!" and shows the doctor the memory card, "This is the evidence of you admitting to your crimes and trying to capture Khaw-boy, I planted it on him myself."

She looks at the memory card and keeps it in her pocket.

"But don't worry, this card is useless now. The evidence is already in the archives of Anti-Skill!"

Steven is outraged, confused, and astonished. The doctor steps back subconsciously, in shock of the information.

"B-but ho- It sho- M-my calculations should have been perfect! Anti-Skill and Judgment should have left me alone! You…!" the doctor points furiously at the 'Boss', "You should have followed your orders! You are a loyal dog to the system! What the hell is the matter with you?"

The 'Boss' smirks at the doctor and takes another step forward.

"Your calculations and whatnot maybe correct. But you'd be an idiot if you think it'll work on me. Who the hell do you think I am! You forget that your calculations cannot calculate me, Tanaka Nanako of the 139th branch, the 'BOSS'!"

Her shout could be felt a mile away, it had that much impact. And to add the finishing touches, she points to herself with her thumb.

Steven is outraged, confused, and astonished. He is just speechless after all that, he takes another step back after the 'Boss' spoke.

"Side's, I don't obey the law; I follow what's right! If the law forbids me from touching you, then I'd go take you down myself. There's no point in dragging my good buddies and allies to face the consequences later."

Steven is outraged, confused, and astonished. He grips his head with both hands and shakes his head.

"I'll repeat again," Aiho speaks, "stand down and surrender yourself-jan."

Steven is…

"…"

He can't process the situation anymore. His hands drop and his head is staring at the ground. He can't show anymore anger; he is well beyond rage now.

"Haha..hahaha…ha…haHAH-HAHAHAHAHA!" he bursts out laughing at the ceiling.

The doctor seems to have lost it. For his perfect calculations, they are an absolute. For him, his calculations are like a perfect prediction of Academy City's forecast. For him, his calculations are like an accurate reading of a precognition. For him, his calculations 'were' his personal reality and to have it shatter in his face, the doctor really seem to have lost it.

"… Grr… you incompetent fools. Very well then, I'll see to it tonight is your last night on this miserable rock!"

His arms stretch out towards the formation and all everyone with a riot shield, including Aiho, feels a strong yank. Their shields are pulling towards the doctor. Some of the Antiskill held on to their shield, while others had theirs yanked out. A person even tumbles forward with the force of the pull.

Half of them lost their shields, the other half, including Aiho, held on.

The shields then form a barrier in front of the doctor, in a curve formation but not exposing the doctor to the line of fire.

"Fire!" ordered Aiho and the Antiskill holds onto the trigger of their weapons, bombarding at the doctor.

Rubber bullets bounce off the shields, although, the shields didn't budge at the forces.

The 'Boss' starts to offer her help too, firing flaming spheres that explodes bright orange on impact.

But again, the shields didn't budge.

Ian stands behind the firing squad, resting and watching in suspense. The power of a level 4 is something truly to be marveled at; being able to fight on equal terms with this kind of force is a thing out of a manga.

Though Steven's defense is holding up, he is holding it with everything he's got. A vein shows itself on his forehead to help add to his furious look.

"What do you take me for, an imbecile!"

His pupils dilate and he swings his right arm to his right. The counters on both sides of the walls, the drawers open all the way. In the drawers, wires fly out and quickly wrap 3 Antiskill members on both side of the wall.

Due to the sound of the gunfire, the men did not hear their allies in trouble.

Steven then lifts his arm hand up which then the captured men fly up, above 3 of their allies. By then, they noticed their captured friends have flown into the air above them.

"Stop squirming!" the doctor telling his hostages since it does hinders his hold. Like holding a live fish in your hand; when it moves it, it slips out.

He then drops his right hand down, pulling the men down on their allies.

*Thump!* the force of the pull added with the force of gravity knocks those men out, 6 of them each side with their heads on the ground.

"Ah-hahahaha! Worthless insect!"

Ian, the 'Boss', and Aiho saw the whole thing in awe, the man really does have a lot of power.

She calls off the remaining 4 to stop shooting with a hand signal, and they all stand and watch the doctor.

Did they give up? Have they admitted defeat? Steven is pleased.

"I see you have come to your sens- SEH!"

Yuichi lands a blow to the back of his neck and the doctor leans forward. He then grabs his left arm and left shoulder, with a quick, forceful 180 degrees spin, Yuichi slams the doctor's face onto the floor.

Yes! Ian and the 'Boss' thought, with their right fist in the air, not pass their shoulders.

"Uug..gr..gwa..!" The doctor exclaims in pain. He then looks at Yuichi in shock and anger

"Attacking outside of your opponent's field of vision, not even SIM can help you. Thank you for the tip." says Yuichi while he smirks, but unlike the doctor's twisted smile, he smiles in a smile that one would see during a friendly rivalry.

Ian just now realizes that Yuichi is not around him, he must have snuck his way behind the doctor during the attack.

"Nice Ichi-boy!" she gives him a thumb's up.

It's over now, they have succeeded. Ian lets out a sigh of relief with the thought of things going back to normal again. The doctor will be put to god knows where, perhaps prison, Isao and the other students will be free, and he'll get to live his life as an ability user. Those ideas couldn't have sounded any better.

Aiho walks towards the doctor, pinned down by Yuichi, with a pair of handcuffs. Unlike the cuffs you'd see in movies with two metal rings and a chain connecting them, these cuffs are very secure and doesn't allow for any room of movement without moving the forearm.

"You did good kid, here you go."

Yuichi nods and takes the cuffs with his right hand. Though his right hand is holding the doctor down, he has his knee to hold the doctor so the doctor is not going anywhere.

Strange.

Whenever someone gets captured, they would wait till they get the chance to escape, occasionally struggling. Not Steven, he has been on the floor motionless, like an unconscious person. But he is very conscious, in his mind to be exact, as he questions what went wrong.

He personally planned the whole escape plan so what went wrong?

SIM should be able to predict the outcome so what went wrong?

To him, everything was perfectly planned out. He would capture two more lab rats tonight and leave Academy City till things settles. In fact he might not even need to return to Academy City, Mimicry will hold many applications.

But what happened? Was it because of this 'Boss' insect? Was it due to the lack of calculations? Can SIM really be faulty?

It can't happen!

It couldn't happen!

It is inconceivable!

It is blasphemy!

It is NOT over!

"NOTHING CAN BEAT SIM!"

!

Everyone's attention is pulled towards the doctor.

After he whaled, his pupils dilate and Yuichi felt his weight lessens. Yuichi starts to levitate and then launches towards Aiho.

Smack! Both of them hit the wall after being pushed by a Yuichi cannonball. They then fall to the floor.

It is a moment of, what had just happen, for everyone. The remaining Antiskill members then take aim at the doctor, who is getting up while facing the ground.

Aiho, who is still trying to get her grounds, yells fire.

The doctor looks straight at the four Antiskills who still stand.

*BADABADABADA!* rubber bullets being fired at Steven, but they are not hitting him at full speed. In fact, the bullets slow down before they could do any harm to him, down to a speed similar to a 5 year old throwing an eraser. The slowed bullets, however, annoyed the doctor even more.

Shots slowly lose their speed until they stay completely motionless in mid-air.

The four stops shooting in confusion and fear, knowing their shots did nothing.

"Raah!"

The angry doctor then pushes his right arm forward, and the motionless rubber bullets flies back at an incredible speed.

"Ug-Guah!" the four receives their shots back, striking them at a force that knocks them out. One of them had their helmet cracked as well.

Ian and the 'Boss' stood behind those men as they fall, couldn't do anything since it happened so fast.

Steven clenches both his fists and roars at the ceiling.

"Grr…! I will not be stopped! Do you hear me? I will kill you ALL!"

The objects around the doctor levitate again, but this time, much more violently. Some shields get mix along with the equation as well.

It's not over yet unlike what Ian had hoped. Though he is not quite rested, Ian's current condition feels good enough for round 2.

Yuichi gets back with Ian and the 'Boss' while Aiho is hanging on to the wall holding on to her mid torso. She may have broken a rib.

Ian and Yuichi got in their stances for a fight just right before the 'Boss' says, "Get ready boys, the next fight is with us." The 'Boss' then gets to her stance.

Ian, the 'Boss', and Yuichi, in that order, are against the SIM-powered, telekinesis, Dr. Steven Connor.

The doc focuses his sights on them. The 'Boss' charges in first and Ian and Yuichi follows behind her.

Steven swings his left arm forward and three objects, microscope, encyclopedia, and an electrical device, launches at them. But they dodge those attacks with ease by moving to a side.

Just a few more steps in running and they would be in front of Steven.

He then raises his arms and the object around him start to speed up, growing in radius with more speed.

Ian is running beside Yuichi and he sees an incoming chair.

"Ugh-!" the chair hits Ian and pushes him towards Yuichi. The Ian and chair combo gets Yuichi as well. The chair pushes them both off to the side, Ian rolling off of Yuichi after hitting the ground.

"..! Ah-!"

The 'Boss' can't help but notice the boys' fall and the one of the rotating objects, the table, zooms from the back of her sight and smacks her.

Ian and Yuichi are still getting up, on their knees, when Steven directs his attention to them.

Furious, he wants to see them crushed. He lifts his right hand up, with his palm facing the ceiling, and calls for a spinning object to be controlled.

A table, in rotation and in the air, slows down 5 meters away from him. And he pushes his right hand down when-

*Bwhoom!* a fireball got his back.

"Gaah..!"

The 'Boss' is on that very table he pick to control. When she got hit by the table, she held on to it. Once it slowed down, she got up on her knee and fired a fireball.

At the moment of impact, the doctor reaches for his back due to the heat. Like exposing your hand to hot steam, you'd grab it in pain. At that same moment, the table, along with the other objects, that Nanako is on starts to fall.

She jumps off the table and readies herself for a landin-

*Pang!* a steel rod hits her directly at her ribs and pushes her away.

The doctor, gritting his teeth in anger, intercepts her landing with that toss. He just quickly did 180 degrees turn and swung right hand to the side, and that launched the rod to the 'Boss'.

Bang!

"AHH!"

A shot lands on the back of the doctor's head, pushing him forward. He grips the back of his head, groaning in anger.

Aiho is the shooter who did it. She has her weapon aimed directly on the doctor's head in hopes of knocking him out instantly. But to her surprise, it fails.

"GrrRRrrr..!"

Steven turns his head and looks at her. Just as you think the doctor is showing all his anger and frustration, he shows an even angrier version than before.

He is like a wild beast at this moment, attacking anything that stands in his way. He lifts both his arms an-

*Dwoom!* a fireball gets his side, leaving small traces of ember that extinguishes itself.

The doctor covers his head from the fiery blast and then turns to Ian. But he does not see Ian, he sees Yuichi up close.

Yuichi has successfully gotten close to the doctor with all the disturbances. He quickly gets down and does a sweep kick, knocking the doctor to the ground and on his butt.

And just as quick, he stands up and gets his right leg up and ready for a leg drop.

!

Before the leg drop could touch the doc, Steven immediately stops Yuichi by just glaring at him. He then throws Yuichi towards Ian who is not far from the wall behind him.

"Uff!" Ian grabs Yuichi as he flies towards him sideways. But the force is great and they both end up hitting the wall.

With all these force going around, Ian wishes that they were in a bouncy castle because landing on a hard, concrete wall is no fun.

Steven stands up and Aiho came charging in with her shield.

All the anger is growing and boiling in him. He is very upset, beyond furious, and incredibly pissed.

"GOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHH!" he screams, spreading his arms out in the air.

That scream did not generate what seems like a shockwave explosion, but it is his telekinetic powers that pushed everything away, including the air.

The downed Antiskill members, recovering Ian and Yuichi, pain enduring Nanako and Aiho, who was charging, gets pushed all the way to the walls. After hitting the walls, they stayed glued to the wall for a second.

But that second is an unfortunate one for Aiho as she sees a table flying directly towards her. She could not move fast enough so her instinct is to try to block it with her arms.

The shockwave ends and the flying table bounces off her, landing 2 meters away.

"Ha-aaaah…"

She slides down the wall and lands in a sitting position. Then her bodyweight leans to the right and she lands on her side. She faints.

On all fours, Ian is looking at the ground, trying to catch his breath. He notices at the wall where he was plastered for a second, about 2 head lengths away, has a tray lodge right into the wall. Shivers went down his spine. Any closer and he would have lost his life.

Yuichi is already up, but holding on to his sides that hurts. Ian sees he's up and joins him as well.

As he stands, he's relief to see the boss on the corner of the room, with a table lodged into the wall, pinning her against the wall. But that's not what his relief is for, it is because she is conscious and is trying to push the table off.

In the middle of everyone and everything stands Doctor Steven Connor breathing heavily, eyes pink with red veins and still furious.

"Haa…haa…haa… this is very annoying…!" says the doc as he looks around. He looks at his hands and clenches them.

"The pests, the guns, the resistance, the morons…! Even this pain, it's in my way! I'll get rid of them all! There's nothing I can't do with SIM!"

His head faces diagonally up as he screams.

His eyes dilate.

Starting with a slow speed and increasing to a higher speed, the dilation grows and shrinks. It speeds up to a point where it looks like a blur.

The doctor then closes his eyes and lowers his head.

Around his feet, a cyclone starts to form. The cyclone ring then ascends, increasing in rotations, and started to glow white. As the ring got above his head, it started to shrink into what looks like an unstable, glowing halo. Every few seconds, rouge string-like glows will expand from the halo and shrink back into it.

His anger stiffen body relaxes and then his feet levitates off the ground. He floats in mid-air with his arms slightly out to his side like an angel receiving the blessings from god.

His eyes then unclose, showing not dilated eyes, and the expression on his face is similar to that of his captured students, emotionless, robot-like expression.

"…Assessing current status, … …Overall percentage of damage before death, 47%. Overall percentage of damage before physically impaired, 86%. The physical body has sustained considerable amounts of damage, projectile offensive maneuvers is advised."

Even the words he speak have the robotic effect to it; a monotone voice. The doctor has truly turned his mind into a calculative machine a machine. He stares at Ian and Yuichi with cold eyes.

"Due to overloading, current state will degenerate mental status. Degeneration at 3%"

Bang! A loud thunder clap from the doctor's right. They both felt the air moving towards that loud clap, like a quick push, and a bright glow, similar to that of an incandescent light, forms.

The object looks like it is a pole. No, it looks more like an outline of spear covered in a bright hot glow.

It's plasma.

And it charges right at them, too fast for Ian to make a move.

*Boom!* a small explosion, leaving a red-hot, melted indent in the wall. Thank god it did not hit Ian as he praises in his mind.

Before the impact, he then felt a kick from his side, pushing him away from the spear. Thanks to that, Yuichi's quick reflexes, they both dodge the impact.

The sound of hissing from the wall slowly dissipates and the orange glow fades, leaving the spot blacken.

_It melted the wall?_ Ian thought because the walls are concrete which is almost similar to rocks. To be able to melt it means that spear holds a great amount of energy.

Bang! Another spear forms.

On the side of the wall where the entrance is at, the Antiskill members are passed out there. Knowing this, Ian and Yuichi instinctively run to the opposite side, where the 'Boss' is still at the corner away from them. This area will be the stage to fight on, a quarter the size of the room but it will have to suffice for the safety of others.

The spear charges at them and they barely dodge it, Ian had to dive to the ground. The spear then hits one of the machines and melts a hold into it, short-circuiting the advance technology.

They got up and repeated the same tactic, dodging, as the doctor makes and fires 2 more spears.

Bang! Whoa, that was a close one.

Bang! Whew, lucky!

"Degeneration at 14%" informs the doc.

All that dodging is not for waste, disregarding the fact it save their lives, as they both learns that the doctor can only make a spear one at a time.

*Tuk! Tunk!* Nanako bangs on the table that is still pinning her, struggling to get free.

Bang! A spear shoots at Ian and he barely dodges it, bending backwards. He feels the heat of the spear 30 centimeters away from his chest. Feels like the hot sun sitting in front of him, but only for a brief second.

While that is happening, Yuichi took the chance to charge at the doctor. He creates a photosphere, aiming to blind the doctor and attack him.

As he stretches his right hand out with the photosphere, Bang! A spear instantly forms while charging at him. It is a meter away and there's no way he could move that fast.

But he instinctively opens the photosphere to absorption and drains the spear of its thermal energy, the similar principal to siphoning Ian's flames at the elevator shaft.

From outward appearances, it looks like the spear went straight into the photosphere and disappears. Although, Yuichi can barely contain it and a second later..

"Yu-!"

Boom!

Ian shields his head with both arms.

The sphere explodes, sending Yuichi in the air flying backwards. He hits the ground and rolls till he hits the base of one of the machines.

"Yuichi!"

He does not respond. He doesn't even show a movement. Ian hopes he faints. No, he wants Yuichi to be passed out. Anything is better than dying.

"AaaaHaAH!" the 'Boss' kicks the table, pushing it out. She is free now but doesn't have the time to celebrate.

She quickly runs towards the doctor and stood 6 meters away.

"Stand back!" the 'Boss' yells at Ian. It took him 2 seconds to process that thought and then he nods and gets back.

The 'Boss' reaches in her pocket and pulls out a polygon like sphere.

"So you're as good as a level 4… it's been awhile since I had my last System Scan, so I still remain a level 3."

What is the system scan? The simple answer would be an examination to determine an esper's level.

She tosses the ball in the air.

"Hope you can handle this!"

And then she fires a fireball in at arc, hitting the sphere. The burning sphere falls right in front of the doctor, shattering and spreading out all over the floor.

Now, around the doctor are little fires the size of a candle. The shards of the polygon sphere are keeping the fire lit.

"HaaaaaaaaaaAAAHHH!"

Holding both her hands close to her, stretches them upwards as if she's lifting something heavy. The candle light around the doctor then starts to explode upwards like an inferno.

These flaming pillars generates a lot of heat, enough to make Ian covers his face with his arm.

The level 3 Nanako then crosses both her arms downwards, sending the flaming pillars to converge into the center where the doctor is floating.

With all the flame converged, they spun into one big flame.

"Wow.." Ian stands in awe of her power.

The 'Boss' then stands back up right again, with left hand on her hip.

"It's over."

In the center, the flames die down. She raises her right hand to extinguish the fire-

!

The flames divided in the middle, Steven dashes forward towards the 'Boss'. Before she could react, her whole body is feels tight; the doc has gotten a hold of her with telekinesis.

"Degeneration at 31%"

Lingering fires extinguishes themselves with no fuel.

"AaaaaAAAHHH!"

With the doc a meter away from the 'Boss', she feels her whole body getting crush, her head looking at the ceiling in pain. The force squeezes her consciousness away, as she drops her head.

*Fwoosh!* the flames deflects off what seems like an invisible sphere around the doc. He turns his head slightly to see the attacker.

Ian had made the attack out of instinct. Even though the doctor seems invincible, he is not going to sit there and do nothing. He then stretches his hands back and creates 2 more fireballs and charges at the doctor.

Using the limp body of the 'Boss', the doctor effortlessly swings the 'Boss' at Ian, hitting Ian at the left.

"Gah!"

Upon impact, he spins twice and regains his ground. But it really hurts; the pain slows him down and causes the fires he had in store for the doc to extinguish.

"Ugh!"

Before Ian had any time to look at the doc, the 'Boss' flies at Ian at the right, hitting him again.

Now, standing is even a task.

At the end of the 'Boss' combo, the doctor tosses the 'Boss' right at Ian, knocking both of them back.

As they hit the ground, the 'Boss' rolls off Ian with whatever momentum she had left. Ian is on the ground, facing the ceiling with his arms out, too weak to stand. All he could do is continuing to breathe, panting.

This is it, isn't it?

Even with all the help we got, we still could not beat the doctor.

"Degeneration at 34%"

Steven hovers towards Ian, not even realizing the reason he stayed in Academy City for this long is because he wanted to capture Ian. All that is left is 'elimination' for the cold, robot-like doctor.

Bang! A spear forms, and then it fli-

_This is it, isn't it? Everything ends here. My friends will not make it. I will not make it. I'm so sorry guys; I could not be of much help._

_Sorry mom and dad, I won't be able to visit you anymore. Sorry big brother and big sisters, your little bro won't make it._

_I'm sorry Isao, I could not save you. And I am sorry Yuichi, Miss Tanaka Nanako, I am not much help._

_Sorry my friends around the world, we won't be able to hang out and talk about how awesome it is to be able to use special abilities._

_It's time for me to give in…_

…

…

…_?_

-es at Ian, exploding and kicking up smoke and white mist.

The doctor stares at the smoke. One of the targets is obliterated. His cold emotionless expression, his robot-like eyes- …twitches?

From the dissipating smoke, Ian stood there with his head down, unscathed.

Behind his head, light start to form, similar to a creation of a photosphere. But unlike the dark completion of the photosphere, it glows bright.

Ian slowly lifts his head up, his eyes still closed.

From the doctor's point of view, Ian looks as if he was one of the holy men in religious paintings with an orb of light behind their heads. Ian uncloses his eyes and stares at the doc, emotionless as well.

"Scanning… analysis complete. Subject is likely to have overloaded SIM. Threat level high."

The doc then separates their distance, flying backwards.

Yuichi and the 'Boss' regains their consciousness at the same time, and they see Ian and Steven still standing.

Something is wrong, they are aware that Ian is not himself. Ian then walks forward, away from the 'Boss'. In that square room, Ian and Steven stand in the middle, if the entrance of the door is to be used as a guideline, they both stood on it and away from each other.

Ian opens his right palm out and a small orange orb manifests itself. He then faces his palm at the doc.

*…BOOORROAAHH!* from the tiny orb, a stream of flames burst out towards the doc. Wind blow into the room from the vents and the door, returning oxygen in as it gets used up.

But the fire stream gets push to the side by the doctor's invisible shield.

Yuichi is still on the ground, on his knee, and he is on the doctor's left. If the doctor is facing north, he would be south west of the doctor.

The deflecting flames would have got him but Yuichi notices an orb behind the doctor's head, absorbing the rouge fires.

Ian then creates another orb with his left hand and fires it at the doc, being deflected and absorbed by the orb behind the doctor.

The stream of fire then dies down, revealing 2 more orbs in front of the doctor. All together there are 3 orbs placed equal distant with each other.

BOOM! The orbs explode towards the doctor, creating a triangle like blast. All the flame that was deflected is now the energy of that blast.

Steven flies out from the explosion, smoking, with his head down. He did not fully block the blast. He then looks at Ian.

"Degeneration at 51%"

Bang! A spear forms and flies towards Ian's head.

*Siiuu…!*

But before it could reach Ian's head, a photosphere manifests itself in front of his head. It completely absorbs the spear and dissipates.

One can sense the frustration from the emotionless doc as he creates multiple more spheres and launches them at the crowd of unconscious Antiskill behind Ian.

Ian spreads his arms out and multiple photospheres intercept each and every one of the spears. No one is hurt. The spheres then dissipate.

Yuichi and the 'Boss' are just speechless, so much control and so much power is being thrown around this room. Aiho then regains consciousness and looks around. When he sees Ian with orb of light behind his head, she just said, "huh..?"

Bang! Bang! Bang! BANG!

The doctor then creates more spears, but this time the aim is towards Ian himself.

With his right hand raised towards the attacks, he creates a sphere twice the usual size and it absorbs all the spears. After absorbing, the photosphere shrunk to the original size and started to glow white. He then tosses the photosphere at Steven.

Reacting to this, Steven stretches both his hands out and the sphere stops. One can make out a giant invisible hand by the aide of the leaking photosphere light as the hand holds the sphere in a fist.

*BAAAM!* the sphere explodes, kicking up grey smoke and white mist.

From Aiho's point of view, Ian gets yank forward into the aftermath.

Ian stops in front of the smoke and as it clears, the doctor has his right hand out, gripping Ian with telekinesis.

"Degeneration at 58%, target must be eliminated."

Steven stiffly closes his right hand and even though Ian doesn't show any signs of pain, he is getting squeezed hard.

An orange orb forms in front of Ian's forehead, ready to blast the doctor. But Steven pulls Ian closer and grabs Ian's head with his left hand.

He is still crushing Ian with telekinesis with his right hand.

*Paka! Paka!* Ian's bones slowly cracks. His head is slightly bent backwards by the crushing.

Then he faces the doctor directly, a shockwave exploded from him and he is free. The doc's grip recoils back and Ian pushes a fireball with his right hand to the doctor's chest.

*Fwoom!* the doctor flies back to a safe distance.

Steven never look away from his target, he keeps an eye always on Ian.

And he sees it, he sees Ian at a distance. But one thing has change, Ian is now levitating.

Yuichi, Nanako, and Aiho stand up, audiences in amazement. They didn't want to move away from their spot because either they might get in a bad location or they don't want to miss a thing.

"Target now shows psychokinetic abilities, threat level maximum. Degeneration at 64%"

The doc raises both his hands towards Ian and said, "Finalizing attack." Spears start to form and converge into a sphere in front of his hands.

Ian lifts his right hand out and air starts to converge, creating a ball of plasma too.

The two stare at each other for a second, waiting on the first move. Then both of them fire their attack.

Two thin, white-hot plasma streams converge in the middle, spewing heat. The ground started to glow orange with heat.

The doc keeps pumping more spheres into his stream while Ian is pulling more air in his.

It is a stalemate.

"Degeneration at 81%"

Then more spears start to form and converge, strengthening his plasma flow.

Catching on to the doc, Ian creates a single photosphere above his head which siphons whatever energy the spears have. The doctor's plasma flow then went back to where it started.

Ian then rests his left hand on his right arm, two orange orbs form beside the plasma stream.

The orbs then shoot out flames towards the stream, glowing from orange to blue to white-hot.

The plasma stream from Ian's side grows stronger and bigger in diameter, completely engulfing the doctor's spear-powered stream.

Before it hits him, the doctor crosses both his arms. The plasma hits the invisible shield and engulfs it, pushing the doctor to the wall behind him.

CRASH! Debris, smoke, and white hot mist fly out of the wall.

At the moment of impact, Ian lowers both his hands and stops his attack.

The audience, who had their arm in front of their face to shield whatever that came their way, still watches in amazement and they are speechless.

Yuichi then notices there are 4 photospheres around the room.

_Photospheres? … … oh!_

He realizes that if it weren't for those spheres, the room would get unbelievably hot and they would be cooked.

The dust settles and behind it lays the doctor, sitting on the rocky debris with his head down. It seems before the plasma got to him, he barely manages to block it enough to not have a hole in him, but he still lost.

"De..genera…tion… … nine..ty… sev- …ugh…"

Doctor Steven Connor is defeated.

Nanako approaches Ian with caution. Even though she knows who he is, what he has done is unbelievably incredible, who knows if he is the same person as before.

The 4 photospheres then dissipate.

Ian's eyes roll up and he falls backward, losing his levitation. The 'Boss' quickly reacts and catches Ian, though she fell in the process.

"Are you alright?" Yuichi calls out of worry as he limps his way to them.

Ian is in her arms, passed out. The 'Boss' smiles as she looks at Ian like a mother carrying her baby in her arms with a hint of tenacity.

She then looks at Yuichi and said, "Yeah, we're okay."

Aiho starts to limp towards them too.

"He really did it-jan."

Nanako looks at Aiho and replies, "Yup, thanks to him." she then looks at the doctor. Yuichi and Aiho follow as well.

The doctor who had been slipping away for the longest time they have ever chased is now finally down.

Nanako looks back at Ian and says, "Thanks to him, we're all okay."


	6. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Strength in Bonds - Friendship**

"Hmm… Ah! There it is!"

The floors layered with calming green tiles, walls equipped with handrails accessible to patients, and the place furnished with benches and paintings. In fact, at the end of the hall you can quench your thirst by buying a soda. In that hallway of a certain hospital, Kokawa Isao, wearing the hospital-issued, green gown while on crutches, is slowly searching for the room Ian is currently recuperating in.

Earlier in the day, he heard from the nurse that Ian has regained consciousness for a minute or so, falling back into sleep afterwards. Though Isao is still recovering from his own injuries, mainly spinal, he insisted to see his best friend.

Best friend, that phrase can now be uttered by Isao without any hesitation.

Why? Because he has heard the whole story from Yuichi and the 'Boss'. Well, mainly the 'Boss'.

The first day in the hospital, Isao was still stuck in bed but the 'Boss' and Yuichi were already up and running with only a few bandages. During that time the 'Boss' and Yuichi answered all of Isao's questions as well as providing him with extra information. In short, they literally explained the whole event that happened when he was captured.

The next day, the 'Boss' and Yuichi were healthy enough to be discharged. Isao could move some of his muscles but not enough for him to walk, and he rested.

And today, day three, he can hold his weight with unbalanced legs; his recovery is progressing rapidly thanks to medical science. Thanks to that, he eagerly limps his way to greet his friend, calling the 'Boss' and telling her about the news beforehand.

As he reaches his hand out to the door, a familiar figure approaches from the opposite side of the hall.

"Oh? Hey Sao-boy, over here!" shouts the 'Boss' who did not consider the hospital as a quiet place.

"Huh, 'Boss'? Oh hey, you made it."

He would wave his hand but that is quite the task for him as he is still feeling unbalance, so he just greets her with a grin.

"Yeah I did."

She walks to Isao and they both stand outside of the room Ian is in.

The 'Boss' looks at Isao by moving her head left and right, scanning his front and sides, and then smacks his left shoulder.

That is no soft hit either; it pushes his whole body left, leaning on the crutch.

"Ow..!"

"I see you're already up and running eh? Good, good. We can't let something small like that stop you."

They both laugh but Isao really hopes she is joking, anymore beating up and mind control whatnots would keep him in the hospital for life. Of course, that is what he feels. But something is missing, rather, someone.

"Where is Yuichi? Isn't he going to see Ian waking up?"

"Oh him? I had to leave him by the branch; someone needs to hold the fort y'know. And besides, he knows Ian will be fine."

But fine is not really the right word to use. After saying that, the tone of the 'Boss' drops from cheery to slightly melancholy and serious.

"Although, I am not sure if he really is fine."

"Hm? Why's that?"

"Remember what I told you about the crazy doctor?"

Isao nods in acknowledgement and says, "Yeah, he is hospitalized right?"

"Yeah, and we've got the results back. According to the doctors, he is in a bad shape. Not hurt though, just his brain got all messed up."

"Messed up?"

She looks off to the side with one finger place above her ear, trying to regurgitate the information.

"Yeah, like something about the umm.. calculatory part of the brain or such, they said it's like it has been cooked from the inside out. Not only that, the rest of his brain seems to be affected too. It is a miracle that he still can do functions like breathing and such. But other than that, it seems he has lost all his memories and can't even talk."

Upon hearing all that, Isao is happy to know how far the doctor has been beaten.

"Wow, serves him right then. That bastard could die for all I care. Hahaha, eh but wait, why are you not happy?"

She moves her finger away from her head, her hand back to her waist.

"Oh I am happy alright, that doctor got what he deserved. Although, we are not sure if the same story goes for Khaw-boy."

She looks at the door to the room Ian is resting in.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Her gaze then turns back to Isao.

"Well, remember what I said about how Ian beat the doctor to a pulp; he used the same kind of power against the doctor. I know that power is what made the doctor the way he is now, he kept spouting some degrading percentage number. I even heard the number he said when he went down, it was 97, and the doctors estimated the brain damage to be 97%."

Isao then starts to take a quick look at the door as well; treating the door as a temporary Ian to look at. He then looks back at the 'Boss'.

"And Ian did the same thing."

"Yeah, but Ian never did say anything, so I don't know how badly hurt his brain is."

He now understands why the 'Boss' is not in high spirits; the news is quite saddening. They both stare at the temporary Ian, the door, in silence, wondering when the appropriate time to enter is. If they do enter and discovers Ian had lost his memories, what then?

*Suuuuuuuu- Tak!* the sliding door opens before they could think any further.

This gives them a little shock as they did not expect the door to slide open.

Right at the door stands a nurse holding onto clipboard. She takes a steps forward and notices the 'Boss' and Isao standing close to the door, responding with a cute "eh?"

Both of them take a step back to allow the nurse to pass.

"Ah, sorry." The 'Boss' responds.

"MmMmm" the nurse replies while shaking her head, as if to say 'oh not a problem'.

She walks out of the room, leaving the door open, and walks past Isao.

"Um, hey." Isao calls to the nurse and she turns to him.

"Can umm.. can we go inside?"

"Mmhmm" she replies and continues on her way.

The 'Boss' and Isao look at the departing nurse, then looks at each other and turns to the open door.

They slowly enter the room, bracing themselves for what's to come.

Inside the square-like room, the curtains fluttering by the open window, lies a single bed with Ian occupying it. He gazes at his right hand, slowly turning it front and back.

He then notices the presence of two people.

They move closer to Ian, standing beside his bed.

Both of them are slightly happy to see him, but at the same time sadden at the possibility of amnesia.

The 'Boss' didn't know what to say, waiting for a respond like 'Hey, how have you been' from Ian.

"H-hey man, how do you feel?" Isao asks the first question.

Ian just looks at him, his face confused of expression; his eyes somewhat half-closed and mouth closed, if not, slightly open. He has the expression that of someone trying to learn emotions.

"…"

Isao is discouraged; his best friend staring at him with little or no response.

Nanako is discouraged; she feels responsible for what happen to Ian.

"D-do you remember? We would always hang out after classes." Isao tries again.

"…"

"And when the weekend comes, we would go online and play for the whole night straight."

"…"

"What about the others who hang out with us in school? We, we sometimes go bowling together."

"…" Ian looks down at his bed and then looks at the fluttering curtains.

Isao's voice grew weaker and weaker with each question, when he wanted to ask another question, the 'Boss' stops him by putting her hand on his shoulder.

He looks at her with suffering eyes, indirectly asking what to do next. But he realizes there is nothing else to do, Ian has lost his memories and the ability to speak. And he did it in order to save Isao, no, he did it in order to save everyone.

Isao swallows up his frustration and accepts the facts.

"Hey, I want to say thank you. You have been a great friend to me and I am sorry for dragging you around. But don't worry, this is not it; I'll be your friend again and we'll go back to what we do."

His head slowly drops and his voice trembles a little.

"W-we'll hang around the arcades again, and mess around with our friends, and, and also crash meetings for food."

The 'Boss' stands closer to Isao and puts both her hands on his shoulders, providing whatever comfort she can offer.

"S-so, so don't worry, I am going to be there for you too. I owe you my life. If anyone bullies you, let me handle them be-because that's what friends do..!"

His head slowly drops further, trembling with descension. His best friend's mentality is now reduced to that of an infant; everything they had gone through is now erased. But at least he is here, alive and…

"heh…"

well?

Both their attention immediately turns to Ian, who is looking at the window. Ian has his lips shut even though it is stretched out due to him holding his laughter. A slight smile could be picked up on his face as his cheeks swell a little.

He notices the stares he is getting and turns his head towards them, holding in the laugher.

"Uh… Ian..?"

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" and the faker bust out in laughter.

They are both astonished.

"What? You mean you're okay?" Isao asks just to be sure.

"HAHAHAHahaha.. ha… Oh boy, sorry but I just can't help it..! Hahahaha!"

Both of the visitors' cheerful expressions return, they are too relief and happy to get angry at Ian.

"You idiot come 'ere, hahaha!" replies Isao. He then puts one arm around Ian's neck and Ian did the same to him. Both of them are causing a ruckus of noise, ignoring the fact that they are in a hospital.

The 'Boss' crosses her arms, grinning, and said, "So you did not lose your memory after all, but why did you pretend to that?"

Ian looks at the 'Boss' while having Isao in his one-arm headlock. "Nope I still have my memories, but I heard you guys talking outside. I just could not resist the chance."

Ian and Isao free both their necks, and Isao got back up with his crutches again.

"Is that how- damn it I should have known," Says Isao, but contrary to his words, he is still smiling as usual, "but never mind that, you're okay."

"Yeah, the doctor said i could not move much now but I'll recover in a few days. But yeah, we all made it. Some crazy luck huh? Too bad I don't remember a thing of what happen though."

The 'Boss' pulls two chairs towards Isao, one for him and the other for her. Isao thanks her in a real quick manner in order to continue the conversation with Ian. He drops himself in the seat and puts the crutches leaning on the wall behind him. While doing so, he asks Ian a question.

"Huh, what do you mean? I thought you said you have your memories."

"Well yeah, but, what I mean is I don't recall how the doctor got beaten. The last I remember was he kicked our asses real hard. I think I was the last one standing."

The 'Boss' then sits down and says, "Yeah, I blacked out shortly before you went down. But then you got back up and kicked his ass."

"Um? Wait if you passed out, then how do you know what happen?"

She crosses her legs and leans right, her elbow on the armrest and her hand on her cheek.

"Well we found what looks like security footage on that room, along with some other files, and it pretty much recorded everything. It showed me waking up not long after I was out though, so I guess I didn't miss a thing."

_Security cameras? _Ian wonders if that person puts a camera on everything. Heck, why not the bathroom even just for a joke. On second thought, that wouldn't be very funny. Ian decides not to dwell on the whole surveillance camera issue and move on, showing his sarcastic 'oh I can't believe it' attitude while face palming.

"Anyway," Ian continues, "what happen then? I heard you said I defeated the doctor."

Isao who had heard the story once wants to hear it again, his eagerness is palpable.

"Oh you'll love this..!" and he goes on explaining.

Throughout the explanation, Isao gives Ian details on the event with the 'Boss' correcting his story. They explain how the doctor almost killed him, how Ian got up, and how Ian and the doctor faced off. As the explaining goes on, Ian becomes more astonish. His eyes open wide at times and jaw drops several times.

"Oh wow… I did all that?" reassures Ian.

"Yeah, and it seems like the cause for that was the SIM-thing, overloading or something?" The 'Boss' concludes, "But because of it, that doctor's brain is now fried. I am surprise you're fine, I thought something would be wrong with you."

The 'Boss' is not wrong, and Ian knows it. He crosses his arms to show he is about to prove her right.

"Well you're not far off."

"Hm?"

"I thought it was all a dream after I woke up here, so I tried to use my abilities. But luckily I still have them, pyrokinesis and photosphere. Although.."

Ian reassures it in his mind, thinking about what happen. Isao, on the other hand, wants to know right away, waiting for a 2 second pause is just too much to handle.

"Although what?"

Ian turns to them and continues, "I can't seem to control SIM anymore." And he scratches his head.

"So you lost it?" the "Boss" asks.

"Oh no, I can still feel the effects lingering but I just can't control it like focus or increasing brain function. And it seems my output has dropped too."

Ian raises his right hand and creates a fire. *Siu…Fooh!* a fireball half the size of a baseball hovers above his palm.

The "Boss" inspects is just by tilting her head left and right. But in truth, she can feel it.

"Well you're right, it's weaker."

"The doctor said my brain is damaged, but it's not too severe. Although, he did say my brain activity is normal, very peculiar he said. I guess have to thank what's left of my SIM."

The fire extinguishes.

"Brain damage huh..?"

The 'Boss' ponders and looks to one side, "Ah ha!" she replies when she come to a conclusion.

Both of them look at her, responding with a 'huh?' and waiting for her to share what she just had in mind.

"I think I get it now, the reason why Ian is still up and running while the doctor is learning his ABCs. Remember when the doctor went all crazy with the halo and stuff?"

She tries to recreate the halo by twirling her index finger above her head. But the boys do not recall the whole incident because they both do not have any memory of it, whatever information they have is learned verbally from the 'Boss'.

"Ah never mind but what I mean is when the doctor became strong, his mind was starting to break down right?"

They both nod in agreement.

"Then later Ian became like that too. Once the fight was over, they both were knocked out, stopping whatever power they have."

It got a little too confusing as the 'Boss' tries to explains further.

"I think I kinda get what you mean..?" Ian replies.

"Well what I am trying to say is, the doctor used that power way longer than you have. That might be the reason why he is an idiot now and you're half-okay."

"Oh I see, so since I did not stay in that state for too long, my brain is not as damaged as the doc's."

Ian joins in the brainstorming as well, holding onto his chin with his index finger and thumb.

"Perhaps the doctor's telekinetic ability put more stress as well, since it did result from a high level SIM. In my case, I have mimicked my abilities so it doesn't cause too much stress to use at its low level. But that's just what I think."

Ian turns back to Isao and the 'Boss'.

But Isao is rather disappointed by one fact, Ian is weaker now.

"What? So does that mean you can't make your abilities any stronger, or, or do the whole powered up thing? But that's like losing so much power, it's like your level 5 ability is gone."

"Wahahahaha!"

The 'Boss' bursts out in laugher, moving her left hand side-to-side, signifying that's not true. Both Ian and Isao turn to her, wondering what is going on.

"Sao-boy, you need to be able to tell the difference in levels. I mean yeah they were strong but they certainly were not level fives."

She puts her arm back on the armrest.

"If I were to estimate, my guess is that each of them is as strong as two or three level fours. I have seen a level five in action before and I can tell you they are nowhere near a level five."

"Oh.. but still, to lose that power is kind of a waste."

Isao still dwells in the past but Ian doesn't feel the same way.

"But hey look on the bright side, at least I'm still alive and still have my abilities."

"Well said." Replies the 'Boss' while nodding her head.

When the conversation seems to be over, the short silence is cut by Isao again.

"So… your SIM ability is still there but it is useless now?"

"Um, no. I mean, I can't control it but I still feel some of its effects working. I believe if I did not have SIM now, I wouldn't even be able to create that fire."

SIM, the word struck Ian's mind.

"Though can having SIM, just by possessing it, really make a person as mad as Steven?"

"Don't worry about it,"

The 'Boss' sits upright, crossing her arms.

"That man is a special case. Not much is known of Steven Connor's past, but he got the special attention of Kihara Gensei. That's enough to screw a person over."

"Who?" Ian and Isao both ask.

"Kihara Gensei, a madman on the loose. He did things like human experiments and such."

Though little, Ian understands the 'Boss' as he remembers how the doctor talked about the man who raised him taught him the inhuman ways.

"I see."

"And since he was with that madman, he has gained special privileges that made him a scientist. You know the rest from there."

Isao looks at Ian and the 'Boss' back and forth, who had their head down and eyes closed. They are agreeing in silence but that silence is broken as Isao speaks, "…So, where is this Gensei? Is he caught?"

"Nope, until now we have no idea where he is. I can only hope he died of old age, or maybe he self-experimented on himself and somehow sat on an electric chair." the 'Boss' replies with a grin.

They both understand this 'Kihara Gensei' character is bad, but not knowing him personally and badmouthing him feels a little awkward. So in return to the comment the 'Boss' made, they just smile, somewhat awkwardly.

So it's finally over, Ian can finally relax now; living his life in Academy City with his friends, enjoying his time in a modern place, and practicing his new found abilities. He looks to the window as the breeze is gently pushing the curtains. He takes a deep breath and enjoys the peace.

The 'Boss' and Isao understands indirectly that Ian is relaxing at this moment.

But Isao remembers something.

"Oh ya, I forgot."

"Hm?" Ian turns to Isao.

"I never thanked you yet for saving my ass, so here," he raises his fist towards Ian.

Ian then smiles and replies back with a fist bump, saying, "You're welcome man."

"And now that you have special abilities, life's gonna take on a new turn." Said Isao and giving the thumbs up.

The 'Boss' chuckles and stands up.

"Yup, already changed. Okay, time to get to business!"

She walks closer to Ian's side.

"So you have gained an ability- I mean multiple abilities, you have saved our skins, and you have taken down the doctor, I believe you got more than it takes to join our branch."

Ian looks at her, still trying to process what she had just said when..

"Yeah, you should join the branch! Us four will be unstoppable!"

Isao leans forward on his seat to shout that at Ian.

Hahaha… what to do he thought. He turns to the open window again and looks outside at the city, Academy City, home to a population of 2.3 million people and 80% of that population is students. The streets are flowing as busy as usual with people, vehicles, and inanimate objects. It is a city where science rules and a city where science is advanced.

This once level 0 esper peers out at the possibilities, relinquishes in its glory. He could study to be an architect, a scientist, or a game designer, he now could even try to aim to be a high level esper, or he could protect the people in the city from harm.

But that can wait because for now,

for this esper,

A Certain Mimicking Esper (Toaru Moho no Cho Noryokusha),

decides his answer to the 'Boss' and Isao in thought.

He takes another deep breath, in and out, clearing his mind.

The 'Boss' and Isao waits for his answer as they stare at him, waiting and smiling.

And he turns to them, ready to give them an answer.

They move closer to Ian, ears ready.

And he smiles and gives his answer.

"Nope!"


	7. Afterword

**Afterword**

Hello and thank you.

If you have read this whole book from start to end, I must thank you so very much. It gives me great joy to share my imagination.

If you have not read the book yet or you are still in the middle of it, I hope you will stay and continue on. Nevertheless, you still have my gratitude.

When I first immerse in the world of "_A Certain Magical Index_", I found myself completely hooked by the setting. Mainly the setting called Academy City, the city of 2.3 million. It is a city where science is advance and special abilities are like a third arm. Combine those two factors and you'd get endless possibilities; everyone has their own story to tell.

With that in mind, I have decided to put my character in it. Ability-wise, I have always been a sucker for copying things; to be a jack-of-all-trades and master of none. Of course I tried to mimic the original work and how it is written out to the best of my abilities. Ironic, no?

Anyway, let's talk a little about the abilities shown in the book and be warned that spoilers are ahead.

I believe I have written the story somewhat vaguely on the ability part, leaving out some explanations here and there. I did it intentionally to have you readers put in some of your own perspective in it, allowing it to some hypothesis.

Science is created based on observation; we just turn those reactions into words and numbers.

Ian's ability of mimicry allows him to copy the abilities of others, but like all things in life there are limitations. The one stated in the story is the inability to use any abilities with mimicry itself, but when SIM is introduced, the ability to self-manipulate mental processes, the brain has a chance to rewrite itself using subconscious values. Ultimately it shortens the process to achieve the same result; why go from point A to point C to point B when you could just go straight from point A to point B.

Though it sounds incredible, SIM does have its limitations. It can work with whatever information it has got. Once it has gotten all the simple information, it needs complex information to achieve higher results.

I think I'll leave the rest of the guessing in your capable hands. Remember, what is shown is already shown, the rest is up to your own conclusion. As quoted from a certain Sherlock Holmes film, "Never theorize before you have data. Invariably, you end up twisting facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

…

Although, I do want to talk about the decisive battle scene, mainly Ian against Connor. What they both achieved at last is what I'd like to call "Critical SIM". A state achieved by overlapping SIM on SIM itself, self-improving and increasing its calculation by using its own calculation; a paradox in it itself.

It is a state where the users achieve a higher state of mind at the cost of their own health. I'd like to call it an Artificial Awakening. It does show some divine property as they both create their own lightshow by instinct; a higher power displays itself as a divine result. But that state is nowhere near the godly powers of an Awaken esper. So all in all, this Artificial Awakening yields some benefits but destroys its user.

So what am I trying to tell?

Well I wanted to tell that SIM has its limits and once its limit is broken, the consequences could prove fatal.

And that's all I want to talk about with you. Again, I thank you very much for staying throughout the journeys of my imagination.

I already have ideas for a second volume but that will have to wait, I need to recollect my ideas for it. I hope you look forward to it and I apologize for my slow process.

I want to thank my friends for their support for without them, I don't think I would have finished this.

This has been Student1239, signing off.


End file.
